


The Helping Hand

by Alierana



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Merlin (TV)
Genre: Book 1: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Crossover, Eventual Relationships, F/M, Future Fic, Gen, Immortal Merlin, Modern Era, Mythical Beings & Creatures, harry potter storyline, merlin insert, post merlin, undercover merlin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-31
Updated: 2018-01-07
Packaged: 2018-01-27 16:37:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 37,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1717367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alierana/pseuds/Alierana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Merlin, who had been living for 1,300 years, was pulled back into action when, after the deaths of Harry Potter's parents and Voldemort's fall, Morgana manages to split open the gates of Avalon enough to send a message, instructions for freeing her, across. Voldemort, because he isn't quite human at the time, receives the instructions and decides to resurrect her.</p><p>It will mostly follow the books but some things will have to be altered. The same goes for the Merlin tv series.</p><p>Now with Merlin going to Hogwarts with Harry, beginning at book one, things must be easier, right? Not if there are secrets to be kept and house loyalties keeping them from trust.</p><p>(Inside are random before story facts and a warning that this will be updated as I feel like it)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Into Action

**Author's Note:**

> First I want to establish a basic timeline and facts:
> 
> • Camelot rose and fell from 750AD-810AD (this has been moved back a bit so don’t kill me, but I wanted Camelot’s fall to be a good while before Hogwarts’s rise seeing as I couldn’t imagine Merlin leaving Arthur, or Gwen)
> 
> • Merlin’s past is the tv series with no serious alterations and if there is, or has to be one I will mention it. Camelot (Albion) lasted until a few years after Gwen’s death, and Merlin left a little after that
> 
> • Hogwarts was established in 990AD (which according to what I looked up is correct, but I wanted at least one of the years to be right)
> 
> • Merlin started helping the founders about 15 or 20 years before that and at the end he did tell them who he was.
> 
> • Salazar wasn’t evil or super superior, mostly because of the effect Merlin had on him and became more humble by watching how his house developed, one of his biggest regrets his the chamber of secrets, which Merlin didn’t find out about until years later. However he did leave the school out of anger and while him and Merlin came to an agreement he didn’t come back.
> 
> • When Merlin went to help the founders with the school they hadn’t picked a location yet and with the old religion beginning to collapse he had them build it on the Isle of the Blessed so it could only be founded.
> 
> • Merlin also used Gilli’s ring as a starting point and came up with the idea of wands, he didn’t make the first one or anything, so people who had basic magic abilities but couldn’t tap into their powers (like Gilli) could use magic. Eventually if evolved and became fairly strong.(During his time at Camelot)
> 
> • Morgana did die but she used her strong magic to cross through Avalon on Halloween and connected with Voldemort (after he killed Harry’s parents but before the first book) while he was in Albania 
> 
> • Merlin has gone through Hogwarts about 8 times and taught there when it first opened and three times after. So he’s gone through about 12 times.
> 
> • When he was a 5th year Nearly headless was a first year so the first time he came back after that Nick went into shock.
> 
> • 1938-1944 is when Voldemort when to school there (1942 is when chamber was opened) (as it should be)
> 
> • 1991 is when the story starts officially (once again, as it should be, with Harry in 1st year)  
>  

Merlin had lived 1,300 years, or at least around that many years. It was hard to keep track of the passing time to be honest. Not that he looked even remotely that old. He looked to be around thirty at the moment, appearance had to be kept, but he still had his messy black hair, blue eyes, and infections (if he could say so himself) smile. No one would believe that he was Merlin and that was one reason he never bothered to change his appearance. Besides everyone thought he was dead.

 

That being said, having lived so long, boredom was something that he was not unaccustomed to. Sometimes he traveled, and that was when he was most likely to loose track of time, but sometimes he went to school, Hogwarts to be exact. He had been a student about 8 times, not that the number mattered, and a teacher 4.

 

Every once in a while the old religion would pull at him, but it happened very rarely now a days and his interference was usually left up to his discretion. Then again it was because of that when the old religion called it moved him if not out of loyalty then out of curiosity.

 

The last time the old religion pulled at him it was right before he suggested the Isle of the Blessed for the Hogwarts school grounds. It wasn’t his place to offer it and he wouldn’t have if the old religion hadn’t given its approval.

 

He would be going back to Hogwarts soon, or at least that was what he had been feeling recently. The old religion certainly hadn’t lost his pull, but that might have just been because it had been so long absent. The feeling made him jump out of bed, quite literally, and make a visit to the Crystal Cave. He saw many images, as he always had, but throughout the flashes words were repeating. A prophecy.

 

_"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..."_

 

The young boy the people had been talking about, Harry something or other, would be the key to what he was supposed to do. If Merlin had to guess the attack on Harry’s family was the moment he had been ‘marked’. Voldemort had been a problem, but it wasn’t something he could interfere in, and now he knew why he couldn’t. He wasn’t destined to end the fight and couldn’t get involved, at least he couldn’t until yesterday when the old religion called out to him because Morgana had begun making her way back through the veil and out of Avalon.

 

Now, 900 years after the building of Hogwarts and five years since Voldemort’s fall, he sat at one of the cafes looking rather longingly over at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, but something was telling him to remain seated for just a bit longer. It wasn’t the old religion but instinct, though sometimes distinguishing between the two could be difficult, not that it mattered.

 

A young blonde boy chose then to wonder across his path. He wouldn’t have thought much of it but the boy must have seen him from the corner of his eye and chose to approach.

 

At first the boy didn’t say anything, but tilted his head to the side as if examining him. “Are you a pureblood?”

 

The question was innocent, or was supposed to be, but it angered him that children were asking such things, being taught to ask such things.

 

“Why?”

 

The boy stood up straighter now and puffed out his chest dramatically, “Because my father says that purebloods are better because we’re not tainted.”

 

Merlin raised an eyebrow. He did, in fact, pose as a pureblood, if only because magical paperwork was easier to deal with and his explanations were more easily accepted. He wasn’t in the muggle world long enough, or often enough, to set up any identities, and being magic itself was pretty pure. He always put his previous identity as his father and from a whole slew of invented family he drew a woman’s name from to be his mother. He had set it up with the founders, it had been their idea and it had come in handy. There was a spell that they had set to make the family tree continue to grow on its own, without his interference being necessary. He only had to update his direct line. It gave him a family name to use. Still, he didn’t want to encourage this child’s beliefs.

 

He would have said no, but the Malfoy symbol stopped him. If he lied (about his fake identity) it could come back to haunt him, especially if that lie was to someone who could have it verified. He was stuck and his choices were to tell the truth or to ignore the child. “Yes.” He couldn’t ignore the kid. There was something about him.

 

The kid gave him a sharp nod. He looked to be five but was acting as if he was an adult. Prat. Before he could speak again an older man appeared. “Draco, we avoid the riff-raff.” It was said with a sigh, as if he had repeated this point one too many times.

 

Draco, the kid, nodded then raced back to his father, slowing halfway there and settled into a dignified walk. They spoke for a minute before Draco walked back over with his father following him.

 

“I apologize if my son was bothering you.” Merlin realized that this apology wasn’t an actual apology, but for show, and was again annoyed by the arrogance.

 

“Not at all. He seems to be extremely bright.” Merlin said with a smile.

 

That seemed to encourage the older Malfoy to speak again, “My son tells me you’re a pureblood,” when Merlin nodded in agreement he continued, “I’m Lucius Malfoy.”

 

“Macarius Ambrosius.”

 

At his name Lucius reached out a hand for Merlin to shake. Merlin shook his hand realizing that he must have recognized the name and deemed him not riff-raff. “Ah, yes. I have heard of the Ambrosius family. I heard that they are,” he paused and seemed to try to think of the correct word, “Reclusive.”

 

“Yes, my family does have that reputation.” Merlin agreed easily, it was hard to meet people who didn’t exist.

 

Lucius nodded; “Do you have a child yourself?” he seemed much more friendly now that he realized that he was speaking with someone who was both a pureblood and of a good family.

 

Merlin’s first thought was to deny but he would be attending Hogwarts to stay close to the Potter (Harry Potter was his name Merlin remembered) boy. He should be about five too, the same age as Draco. So to keep his cover he answered, “As a matter of fact I do. A boy of five who takes almost completely after me.”

 

“The same age as Draco here then.” Lucius said putting a hand on the boy’s head. “Maybe you and your wife would like to come to the Christmas ball we will be having in a few months.” He seemed to pause as if an idea had struck him, “She is a witch, correct?”

 

Merlin sighed catching on to Lucius’s train of thought. Lucius must believe that the was only reason he is outside his home is because he was forced out, probably for marrying a muggle. Still, he tried to look sad, “She was, but my wife passed recently so I don’t believe I, or my son, would be up to it,” there was no other way to explain why she would never be seen, besides the paperwork was already filed. “Sometime we tutor our children ourselves but in lieu of the loss I will be sending him to Hogwarts when he turns eleven.”

 

Lucius nodded, “With any luck he will end up in Slytherin with Draco here.”

 

“What’s his name?” Draco asked curiously, speaking for the first time since his dad had joined them.

 

Lucius shot Draco a look but Merlin answered anyway. He had made the birth certificate last night, and with magic as strong as his it was already completely legitimate, as was the supposed death of his wife. “Myrddin.”

 

Lucius nodded, “We must be going,” he began as he saw his wife exiting Madam Malkin’s Robes for all Occasions, “We do hope that we will see you again.”

 

Merlin nodded all the while knowing that it would be one of the last times anyone saw him. His own death would take place within the year and he would become Myrddin, a six year old with no parents.

 

He has a mansion with a few house elves, and that would be where he would stay until the time when he could go to Hogwarts. He must start preparing soon  anyway, as who knows when the real fight would begin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so you can kind of see the idea with this first chapter and the notes at the beginning. I welcome any general ideas and/or opinions.
> 
> Final note is that Draco will probably end up being a good guy because I love him so much, just like Merlin will probably discover Snapes true loyalties.
> 
> I don't, however, know who will end up discovering who Merlin actually is.
> 
> Final thought on this is that I will probably end up publishing a remix of this story, maybe, with Merlin as a girl because I am fond of the idea. However I will try getting into this one first seeing as I don't really know how the remix will go.


	2. Old School, New Year

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not really much to say, but to tell you guys that it will be touch and go with the book. Some parts are direct quotes and other parts are different. If I don't say what the Golden Trio is doing assume it's what they were doing during the book. 
> 
> If you have any questions or suggestions or anything just let me know.

\---six years later---

 

Fred, George, and Lee all nodded and the If there was one thing that Merlin liked about the wizarding world it was the Bank. Gringotts gave him a level of safety, and a feeling of security, that he had never before experienced. It also helped that the few goblin made items he possessed were still his and had never been passed down. He had also promised to return the items in the case of his death.

 

They also knew that there had only ever been one Ambrosius. Most people or creatures of magic could guess who he was after having been in his presence. The Goblin’s expressed their loyalty to him and lied, as needed, to support his stories.

 

It was as he approached Gringotts he stopped to take the time to read the words on the second door:

                 _“Enter, stranger, but take head_

                        _Of what awaits the sin of greed,_

_For those who take, but do not earn,_

_Must pay most dearly in their turn._

_So if you seek beneath our floors_

_A treasure that was never yours,_

_Thief, you have been warned, beware_

_Of finding more than treasure there.”_

 

That was when he heard Hagrid, grounds keeper at Hogwarts, speaking behind him, “Like I said, yeh’d be mad ter try an’ rob it.”

 

He hadn’t seemed to see Merlin, talking instead to a boy about the age he was appearing to be, eleven.

 

“Yes, you would be.” Merlin agreed aloud.

 

Two heads turned to face him. Ah, the boy was Potter. “’Ello. Who are yeh?” Hargid asked rather nicely.

 

“Oh,” Merlin jumped a bit, as if realizing that they didn’t know each other, “Sorry, my name is Myrddin Ambrosius.”

 

Hagrid seemed to blink in shock at the name and put a hand on Harry’s back, and the boy looked up at Hagrid a bit worried. Then, when Hagrid didn’t move to speak, Harry decided to introduce himself, “I’m Harry Potter.”

 

Merlin laughed, “Oh I know. Well, I have business to take care of, as I assume you do as well. Maybe I’ll run into you at school.” And then Merlin turned and headed to one of the Goblins, who quickly bowed, then led him to his vault.

 

Then, after Merlin had been gone for a while, they came back to their senses and approached a counter to speak to one of the Goblins. Harry wanted to ask about the boy but decided to wait until they were alone again.

 

Merlin collected some money (mostly Gallons but a few Sickles and Knuts too), a few rare items, and the old Sidhes staff he transformed into a wand. After he had everything he needed from his vault he picked up the rest of the items on the list, he waited for the Potter and Malfoy boys to leave before he went into Madam Malkins, and then he headed back to his house until it was time to catch the Hogwarts express.

 

When it came time, not so long after waiting years mind you but it still felt like longer than it was, he was excited.

 

Merlin didn’t need to be led to platform 9 ¾ because he’d been there many a time before, but even if he hadn’t the wall leading to the train was drenched in magic. He was with a woman alone and took comfort in being able to work in peace. His record said he was being taken care of by his father’s sister, who didn’t exist (he just stuck with calling her a recluse when asked), so he was alone aside from the elves (who knew his secret along with every other magical creature).

 

As the wall finally came into view he saw a group of people in front of it, the Weasleys, so he decided to wait. Harry was with them too and once they had all crossed over Merlin followed. He didn’t waste time talking and instead invisibly boarded the train.

 

A while after he sat down his door opened and two of the Weasleys, the twins, came in. “Another first year huh?” one asked sitting down.

 

The other didn’t give him a chance to speak and instead spoke himself, “Of course he’s a first year.”

 

“Wonder where Lee is?” the first asked again.

 

“Give him, and his tarantula, time.” The second answered.

 

“A tarantula?” Merlin asked, partly because he was sure they had said this to get a rise out of him, and partly because they seemed fairly interesting.

 

“Are you scared,” the first asked.

 

“Or interested?” the second finished.

 

Merlin shrugged, “That would depend on what you’re going to do with it.”

 

“I like the way he thinks.” The first said with a smile.

 

“By the way,” the second said with an interesting smile, “He’s Fred and I’m George.”

 

“Fred, George,” Merlin said nodding to each of them, “I’m Myrddin, and yes, a first year.”

 

It was then that another boy came barreling the hall and toward the compartment where the three were speaking.

 

George saw him right after Merlin did and called out, “Hey Lee, what’s up?”

 

“Your brother’s been in a bit of a fight,” Lee said with amusement rather than worry, so Merlin took that as a good sign, then, “Follow me.”

 

“Ickle Ronniekins,” George laughed.

 

They got to the compartment just in time to hear a girl, probably a first year, telling them that they should put their robes on, and Merlin was surprised they hadn’t already because everyone else seemed to be in them.

 

“Heard you were in a fight.” Fred said sauntering up to the group first, followed by George, Lee, and then himself.

 

“Scabbers has been fighting, not us,” Ron said scowling at all of them.

 

The twins laughed and Ron’s face twisted a bit more. Harry was looking past them though, and at Merlin at the moment. It seemed that he couldn’t decide what to say and that made Merlin wonder what Hagrid had said.

 

“Course, who did your rat fight with?” Fred asked as George laughed behind him.

 

“Draco Malfoy.” Ron sneared.

 

The conversation seemed to be approaching its end. The girl had already walked away, and that was when Harry chose to speak, still watching Merlin. “I saw you at Gringotts, right?”

 

“Yeah, it’s nice to speak to you again.” Merlin said politely.

 

“Hagrid said you were from a family like Draco’s.” Harry said and Merlin admired that he was straight to the point.

 

“Well not quite,” Merlin said with a quiet laugh, “We’re more reclusive than exclusive.”

 

Merlin said it like a joke, but it was a joke that attracted the attention of the others gathered around them.

 

“Why, what family are you from?” Ron asked.

 

“My full name is Myrddian Ambrosius.” Merlin said with a small sigh.

 

“Don’t they tutor their kids amongst themselves?” Lee Jordan asked looking at him strangely.

 

“Usually, but my mom and dad both died when I was around five so my aunt decided to send me to Hogwarts. Besides it’s not unheard of.” Merlin answered with ease.

 

When no one spoke immediately after Ron decided to kick the group out, “Now get so we can change.”

 

With a laugh the group of them left Ron and Harry in the compartment and a voice echoed through the train, “We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes’ time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately.”

 

When the train came to a stop Fred, George, and Lee left Merlin and he wondered over to the group of first years. He heard Hagrid calling, “Firs’ years! Firs’ years over here!” he was an easy person to follow, and though he wasn’t paying attention to who was around him when Hagrid said Harry’s name Merlin realized he was standing right next to the boy.

 

Hagrid was leading the group of them down the hill and to the boats. Having been a first year before he was, of course, used to the ride but it was still interesting to watch. Merlin heard Hagrid giving instructions, things like four to a boat and hurry and heads down. Merlin listened to the awe of the other students as the castle came into view.

 

He was ready to start a new year at an old school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BTW i just wanted to give everyone a reminder that I have to be in the mood to write, and while I have been I make no guarantees for the future.  
> Mostly writing this because there needs to be more of these crossover fics


	3. Sorted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is longer and I was honestly I've had the time to post this so fast.  
> I hope that people are reading, and enjoying, this.  
> I don't own Merlin or Harry Potter and it's too bad I don't because if I did I wouldn't be looking for a job on top of being a full time college student.  
> Um, I think that's it...

They sat patiently as the boats carried them across the water and when they reached land again they headed up the stairway and stopped in front of a large wooden door.

 

Merlin was still paying more attention to the people around him than where they were going. The trip to the castle had become boring over the years but people watching had not. Hagrid presented the boy, Neville, with his lost toad, Trevor, then nocked three times on the intimidating door.

 

Merlin looked at all of the first years surrounding him and took notice of the wide variety of expressions, though most were some kind of anxious or scared some were in awe, very few seemed calm. He was pulled from his thoughts when the door swung open and revealed a witch he had heard about (and seen in a few of his visions while looking through the Crystal of Neahtid).

 

Hagrid gestured to the first years while facing her and said, “The firs’ years, Professor McGonagall,” as a kind of introduction.

 

She nodded, looking down at the students, but she spoke to Hagrid, “Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here.”

 

She led them through the open door then and the other students looked around, amazed by the size of the building, but Merlin just watched Harry and a few of the other students, to see how they took everything in. He had been through this one too many times to feel true awe about it, but he did fake it just enough not to be suspicious to anyone watching.

 

Harry and Draco were almost complete opposites, because while Harry was looking around in pure amazement Draco was attempting to look completely bored. Hermione seemed to be studying the place and Ron seemed worried, which made Merlin wonder what the poor kid had been told by his brothers.

 

She led them past another set of great doors and inside he could hear the other, older, students. There were so many voices but what really amazed him was how strong the magic was because of so many wizards gathered together. He had forgotten how strong it could be; his blood was alive with it.

 

McGonagall led them to a small, empty, chamber to the side, and then started her speech. Merlin didn’t listen, not really. She gave instructions that he’d already heard so he just watched Harry absorb the information, watched Draco sneer at the idea of people not knowing, watched Hermione absorb the information happily, watched Ron worry about what would happen, and so instead of listening he just watched and took note of the people in the room. When she began to speak of the Houses people listened a little closer but she didn’t say enough to satisfy any of their curiosities.

 

“The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting.” She finished looking over the students and zoning in on their flaws. Then she finished, “I shall return when we are ready for you. Please wait quietly.”

 

Then she left, and all hell broke loose. Well, not immediately.

 

It started with Harry who stood next to him. He turned toward Ron and asked, “How exactly do they sort us into houses?”

 

Merlin had thought it was common knowledge, to wizarding families at least, so he was surprised when Ron responded with, “Some sort of test, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking.”

 

Part of him wanted to correct Ron’s misinformation, but it was more amusing to watch the horror cross Harry’s face, and the faces of a few others near them. Everyone was now alight with conversation and it was getting progressively louder. The most interesting person to listen to was Hermione, who was spewing a load of facts and information about everything she had learned.

 

He stood a little straighter when he felt the magic of the ghosts approaching but didn’t give the others any warning, so he wasn’t shocked when he heard gasps and people began jumping in surprise.

 

Instead of even pretending to panic he just listened to the ghost discuss Peeves, which he could understand. The Bloody Baron was the only one who could control Peeves, well Peeves also listened to him time and again.

 

Their conversation stopped when they noticed the grouping of new students. The Fat Friar was the only of the group to speak, but it was mostly because most of the other ghosts were staring at either him or Harry, though they were being fairly discreet about it. The Friar was always too kind, and too Hufflepuff, to openly gape at him and make him uncomfortable, so he was the only one amongst the ghosts to speak with the students.

 

“Move along now,” McGonagall said sharply, sneaking up on the group, and even Merlin was surprised because he had been so focused on the ghosts he hadn’t heard her reenter, “The Sorting Ceremony’s about to start,” and then as the ghosts began to file through the door she turned her attention back to the students and began giving commands, “Now form a line and follow me.”

 

They all scrambled into action then, lining up as they were supposed to. Merlin ended up in front of Harry, who was in front of Ron, and behind the boy, Neville. They all then followed Professor McGonagall through the double doors and into the Great Hall.

 

It was as crowded as Merlin remembered in, and he was in such awe of his own he did not take time to note the surprise of the others. The Great Hall was grand. It was lit by thousands of candles and it looked like the night sky was above them. This place, more than any other, reminded him of Camelot and all that he had lost there.

 

In front of him Hermione whispered, “It’s bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in _Hogwarts, A History._ ”

 

Merlin had a privet smile about that because while most of the facts in that book were correct there was a lot of information missing. He had a complete copy, as it was before he convinced the founders some things (like himself) should be edited out, in a small bag in is room that was enchanted to be bigger on the inside than what should have been possible. That little bag was where he kept all of his books, some almost as old as he and a few older. The older ones were about his time in Camelot and had been written by him or one of the few druids that had been in his close circle. None had been distruputed and he had convinced Gwen to change some facts around in their official books. Later, after Camelot’s collapse, he had gone back and swapped out those books close to the truth with the books that would help create today’s myths about him.

 

The things in his possession were suspicious though, for a student to have, and that was why he kept them well hidden. Most wizards, even the more powerful ones, would have trouble even realizing there was anything hidden in this things.

 

His possessions had been another important reason the founders had thought creating him a family line would be helpful, if not necessary. He hadn’t thought about it then, but a lot of what he had acquired throughout the years would be hard to explain if he didn’t have a solid wizard background. If his ‘family line’ didn’t have enough theoretical connections in the wizarding world some might consider him to be a thief. That was why he made regular deals (by owl) with a lot of the different shops and businesses.

 

Merlin glanced up at Professor McGonagall in time to see her place a stood in front of the first years, and on the stool sat the old hat. Merlin had grown to like their conversations, being that they were reminiscent of speaking with Kilgharrah. It was only sad that they never spoke every often.

 

The room fell into complete silence, waiting. The first years were completely silent too even though they weren’t sure why yet, or most of them weren’t. Then the hat’s mouth opened wide and it began to sing,

 

_“Oh, you may not think I’m pretty,_

_But don’t judge on what you see,_

_I’ll eat myself if you can find_

_A smarter had than me._

_You can keep you bowlers black,_

_Your top hats sleek and tall,_

_For I’m the Hogwarts Sorting Hat_

_And I can cap them all._

_There’s nothing hidden in your head_

_The Sorting Hat can’t see,_

_So try me on and I will tell you_

_Where you ought to be._

_You might belong to Gryffindor,_

_Where dwell the brave at heart,_

_Their daring, nerve, and chivalry_

_Set Gryffindors apart;_

_You might belong in Hufflepuff,_

_Where they are just and loyal,_

_Those patient Hufflepuffs are true_

_And unafraid of toil;_

_Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,_

_If you’ve a ready mind,_

_Where those of wit and learning,_

_Will always find their kind;_

_Or perhaps in Slytherin_

_You’ll make your real friends,_

_Those cunning folk use any means_

_To achieve their ends._

_So put me on! Don’t be afraid!_

_And don’t get in a flap!_

_You’re in safe hands (though I have none)_

_For I’m a Thinking Cap!”_

 

As soon as the song ended the Great Hall exploded into applause. It seemed to love the attention, going so far as to bow to each house, before it finally sat still once again.

 

“So we’ve just got to try on the hat!” Merlin heard Ron angrily whisper to Harry, “I’ll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll.”

 

That thought made Merlin want to laugh, partially because Ron’s parent’s hadn’t thought to correct the misunderstanding and partially because when they were trying to come up with a sorting method Godric had once suggested fighting a beast of some sort. If Helga hadn’t stopped him for the sake of the poor creatures that might have been harmed during the sorting he could have had his way. Salazar, while not enthusiastic, had thought the idea to be passable and Rowena had thought it to be a good test of intelligence as long as the creature had a weakness that could be found in a book that a first year would have access to. Merlin thought Ron should be thanking Helga if he had been that worried about the test.

 

Professor McGonagall stepped forward then holding a long role of parchment, which Merlin knew to have the name of every first year student on it.

 

“When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted,” she said briskly, and then started the role call, “Abbott, Hannah!”

 

A girl with blonde pigtails and a nervous smile stumbled out of line and to the stood. As soon as she sat McGonagall dropped the hat, that fell over her eyes, and after a minute it called out, “HUFFLEPUFF!”

 

The Hufflepuff table cheered loudly and everyone else clapped half-heartedly, as it had almost always been.

 

“Ambrosius, Myrddian!”

 

Merlin ducked his head and walked up to the stool and sat down. He disliked being one of the first to go, but in the end it didn’t make much of a difference.

 

“Ah, Emrys.” The hat whispered into his head, “It’s been a while since I’ve seen you here.”

 

“It has,” Merlin agreed, “I must say that I missed speaking to you as well.”

 

The hat chuckled, “I remember the first time you posed as a student. I’d really been shocked then, because why should you, who helped instruct the founders, need instructing yourself.”

 

“I believe I told you I was bored,” Merlin responded.

 

“So you did, and you also told me your name was Merlin not Emrys.”

 

“So I did.” Merlin agreed.

 

“I believe you are here out of more than just boredom now though.” The hat prompted.

 

“I am. Destiny has a way of moving me.” Merlin agreed.

 

“Now which house will you pick this time? I have told you that even though I am old I was created using new magic, so I have no right to place you, who holds magic older than mine.”

 

Merlin was tempted to nod but instead just mumbled his agreement, “I am to help Harry Potter. What I have seen in the Crystal of Neahtid and in the Crystal Cave leads me to believe that he will be in Gryffindor.”

 

When he said no more the hat prompted, “But you are not leaning toward Gryffindor. I may not be able to place you, but as long as I am on your head I can hear your thoughts.”

 

“But Harry will end up having people he can rely upon in his house. Slytherin will be the house of questionable loyalties and one of the two houses I feel connected to.”

 

“Yes,” the hat agreed, “You and Salazar did always have a unique friendship and you’ve always been a bit on the sneaky/cunning side of things. I assume that Hufflepuff is the other, for your loyalty is well known.”

 

“Yes,” Merlin agreed.

 

“Then it seems that you have decided,” and when Merlin offered no objections the hat called out loudly, “SLYTHERIN!”

 

His table, the Slytherin table, cheered and he took a seat and listened to the rest of the first years getting sorted.

 

“Bones, Susan!”

 

“HUFFLEPUFF!”

 

“Boot, Terry!”

 

“RAVENCLAW!”

 

“Brocklehurts, Mandy!”

 

“RAVENCLAW!”

 

“Bulstrode, Millicent!”

 

“SLYTHERIN!”

 

The list continued. Merlin watched each student go up and get a house. Some of them were sorted before the hat could completely settle onto their heads and others sat there as he had, but he was sure that he had sat there the longest.

 

“Granger, Hermione!”

 

That name got his attention. If his visions were to be trusted, and he wasn’t always sure that they should be, she would end up playing an important role in this battle. Merlin watched as the hat was placed on her head. It would be between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor if Merlin had to guess.

 

A few seconds after Merlin came to that conclusion the hat called, “GRYFFINDOR!”

 

The next name that caught his attention was Neville Longbottom, who, to his surprise, was sorted into Gryffindor and it gave Merlin a feeling that left him aching to check his crystal to see why the boys name should mean something to him.

 

Merlin caught Malfoy’s name just then and it was to no surprise that he was also sorted into Slytherin. Merlin also had a feeling about him. Draco reminded him so much of Arthur (a prat with a prattier dad) that he thought maybe, just maybe, he might have a chance to change.

 

Draco seemed to strut over to the table, and then took a seat next to two boys who had been sorted previously, Crabbe and Goyle, looking positively pleased.

 

A few more names were listed off, and then it was Potter’s turn.

 

“Potter, Harry!”

 

Merlin watched him move forward at the sound of his name, and he also heard the whispers coming from every table. No one seemed to be able to hold in their excitement. As the hat dropped on to Harry’s head the whispers decreased but didn’t stop. It took a minute and that made Merlin wonder between which two houses was he torn, but then the hat cried, “GRYFFINDOR!”

 

The Great Hall erupted into noise. The Gryffindor table seemed unable to control themselves. The prefect was at Harry’s heals and the Weasley twins he had been aquainted with earlier were yelling out in joy, “We got Potter! We got Potter!”

 

Merlin flinched in sympathy for the boy at both the noise and the fact that Nearly Headless Nick had attempted to pat his back in his excitement.

 

Soon the Great Hall’s noise level fell back to normal and the sorting continued until there were only three students left.

 

“Thomas, Dean!”

 

“GRYFFINDOR!”

 

“Turpin, Lisa!”

 

“GRYFFINDOR!”

 

“Zabini, Blaise!”

 

“SLYTHERIN!”

 

Then the sorting was over and Merlin watched as Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll took the Sorting Hat away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think?


	4. After Dinner

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I'm trying to find a good speed because I hate stories that go so fast the plot leaves much to be desired but I also don't want to go so slow as to bore everyone.
> 
> My main issue is to make sure the characters develop in a believable way. Draco in particular. I want his personality to be shown enough in the beginning then slowly built upon. I also figured the best time to change him would be in the beginning when he was more a spoiled brat then evil.
> 
> Now that you know what I'm thinking here you go.

It was only after everyone was sorted and the Sorting Hat had been removed that Merlin realized exactly how hungry he was and became thankful that most headmasters waited to speak until the students had finished eating. Being so hungry and so immersed in his thoughts he only caught the tail end of Dumbledore’s speech, “Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you.”

 

The dishes then filled themselves up and Merlin dug in. He wasn’t paying attention to much of anything then, figuring he could eat in peace, so when Draco began speaking he didn’t immediately realize he was being spoken to.

 

“… your name was Ambrosius?”

 

“Yes.” Merlin answered after swallowing.

 

Draco nodded, “My father mentioned the name. He did say that one of you would be coming to Hogwarts. It seems that when I was younger we met your father.”

 

Merlin nodded. “I did hear of that. I was five at the time I believe.”

 

Draco smirked, “Father said that you and he would be welcome at our Christmas party. Your father once turned down his personal invitation.”

 

Merlin hated still hated the arrogance in his voice, and that was only made worse by the fact it hadn’t seemed to improve over the years. “He did, but I am sorry to say that he has passed since then.”

 

That seemed to make Draco pause a bit, but before he could say anything the Bloody Baron had made his way over to the table. The older students were already whispering warnings about the ghost, but as he approached their words sped up, and then halted the moment they thought he could hear them. Merlin almost wanted to smile because he was sure the Baron had heard them despite their efforts.

 

The Baron moved in between Draco and Merlin and leaned through the student between causing that student who had been sitting there (Goyle) to scramble out of the seat, and he moved to the other side of Crabbe.

 

“I should hope you all aren’t hopeless. I would expect that we win the cup again this year.” This seemed to be a threat more than a hope.

 

Merlin saw, out of the corner of his eye, a group at the Gryffindor table looking wide eyed at the Bloody Baron and assumed that they too were frightened of him, but most students are so it wasn’t that suprising.

 

The group watching them was made up of Ron, Neville, Seamus, Harry, and a few others that he didn’t have time to identify because Draco had begun speaking again.

 

“If your parents are dead whom are you staying with?”

 

The question had been asked so bluntly that Merlin was left wondering if he had ever learned tact as a child. The Bloody Baron looked at him curiously; probably wondering what his excuse would be this time. “My father’s sister, an Aunt, moved into the house with me since she hadn’t been married, but recently she’s been traveling more.” Merlin explained.

 

The Bloody Baron seemed to smirk, knowing exactly how untrue this who charade was, especially since he had been alive during the time of the founders and been there when the concept of his soon-to-be family tree had been come up with.

 

“Then come alone,” Draco sighed, “Only the best families will be there.”

 

The comment made Merlin twitch. Every time he had come to Slytherin the prejudice inside the house had gotten worse. The Bloody Baron knew his feelings, so he might have had some intrest in listening to the conversation, but he also knew Merlin wouldn’t start anything on the first day so after a minute the Bloody Baron leaf them. Goyle didn’t reclaim his seat.

 

Merlin was also annoyed that at the mention of an invite to a Malfoy party because he had gone from being an unknown new Slytherin house member to popular by default. He was now pulled into the conversation with the older kids along with Draco.

 

“…Dumbledore’s crazy but don’t let it bother you,” the fourth year was saying, probably happy to be of use. He was the oldest student nearest to them and had said his name was Tobi something-or-other, and he was still talking, “Professor McGonagall teaches transfiguration and Professor Quirrell is teaching Defense against the Dark Arts…” Merlin was only half paying attention as he went over what Professors were hard and which were easy because you could hardly flunk a subject you had learned eight times, “…Professor Binns, the ghost, is ridiculously boring…” he continued going into the story behind Binns, but Merlin’s attention wasn’t caught until he said, “And the potion’s Professor Snape is the head of the Slytherin house. You’ll notice he isn’t as strict with us in class but don’t push him, and don’t mention Defense Against the Dark Arts in his class. He’s been trying to get that job for ages.”

 

The kid was probably ready to continue talking, and probably had enough material to last all night, but he was stopped when Professor Dumbledore got to his feet.

 

“Ahem – just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you.

 

“First years should not that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well.”

 

Merlin watched as Dumbledore’s eyes moved in the direction of the Weasley twins that he had met on the bus, Fred and George, and wondered if they would want any contact with him now that he was in Slytherin. He also wondered how often they went in to the forbidden forest because he would be there too from time to time and would hate to get caught, even by them.

 

Dumbledore continued then, “I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors.”

 

Merlin wanted to laugh, because no one had ever really abided by that, or if they did they were of a minority. Some things at Hogwarts would never change even if other things changed by the year.

 

“Quidditch trials will be held during the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch.”

 

At that Merlin let a fond smile find its way on to his face. He loved Quidditch, and he’d played it a few times during his years at school. He was okay but not the best player in he world, not that it mattered anyway. He believed that he would be too busy this time around to play anyway.

 

“And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death.” Dumbledore finished.

 

Only a few kids laughed at the statement, not seeming to realize that he was being serious until they noticed no one else found the command amusing. Harry was one of the people who had laughed but the humor left his face as the others around him corrected his misinterpretation. No one from the Slytherin table laughed.

 

“I wonder what that’s about?” A dark haired girl sitting across from them asked under her breath, she was probably a fourth year too.

 

“I don’t know,” the previously helpful fourth year said shaking his head in confusion, “He usually gives a reason for restricted areas.”

 

Malfoy shrugged, “My father says he’s half-mad anyway.”

 

Merlin didn’t know what exactly Draco’s father had said about Dumbledore, but personally Merlin liked the man. He had kept track of Dumbledore for a while, as it was rare anyone caught his eye. Dumbledore had also been teaching transformation one of the times he had came to Hogwarts. Merlin was a sixth year when Dumbledore had arrived. Still, empathy could be the reason he liked Dumbledore more recently, being a half-mad old man himself, if what the elder Malfoy said was true. Merlin was usually a good judge of character though, and so he wouldn’t let a bigoted opinion influence him too much.

 

“And now, before we got to bed, let us sing the school song!” Dumbledore was saying excitedly as the other teachers positive expressions fell before being replaced with stiff, fake, smiles.

 

Others, both around him and at other tables, noticed this too. Every older student, at the Slytherin table at least, seemed to let out a silent groan in annoyance. If he noticed Dumbledore paid it no heed. He gave his wand a twitch so that golden words were hanging in front of them; lyrics. Of all the things that Merlin missed about this school the school song was not among them.

 

It had been a mixture of Godric, Helga, and Rowena after Salazar had left. They had wanted to leave something at the school that was them, all of them. Helga had suggested a song; Rowena had decided the content, and Godric made the words.

 

Dumbledore said to pick a tune and then the noise began.

 

_“Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,_

_Teach us something please,_

_Whether we be old and bald_

_Or young with scabby knees,_

_Our heads could do with filling_

_With some interesting stuff,_

_For now they’re bare and full of air,_

_Dead flies and bits of fluff,_

_So teach us things worth knowing,_

_Bring back what we’ve forgot,_

_Just do your best, we’ll do the rest,_

_And learn until our brains all rot.”_

 

Merlin had spoke the words, and some of those around him mumbled while others sang the words at various volumes. Draco was one of the only ones who refused to move his mouth at all. It was because of all these discrepancies that everyone finished at different times. Soon, and to no surprise, everyone had finished the song, all except the Weasley twins who were singing in a funeral march.

 

Dumbledore seemed to love the enthusiasm and moved his wand as if he was their conductor, and when they finished he clapped the loudest.

 

Merlin had thought that he would like Dumbledore and this just proved it. “Ah, music,” he said, wiping his eyes, “A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!”

 

It was a flurry of movements then. The first years were told to follow the prefects, a fifth year, Ivan Flints lead them to their common rooms.

 

Merlin followed next to Draco as they were led into the dungeon and showed a stonewall that moved to the side to reveal a door. “Belladonna,” Ivan said causing the door to swing open, and then he turned to face the first years, “And don’t be forgetting the password. If you can’t get in that’s your own problem.”

 

That was how they ended up in the Slytherin common room.

 

Of all of the house’s Slytherin’s common room was always the best maintained. The furniture, drapes, and rugs were replaced the moment they began showing signs of ware. Still, even if the furniture changed the color scheme didn’t. The finest silk was used for the drapes, as it was used for the curtains in the dorm rooms, and small silver items accented the deep green.

 

Ivan pointed the girls to the door to the right of them and led the boys through the left. When they arrived at their rooms the trunks were already on their beds, not that Merlin hadn’t expected it, but he couldn’t go through anything right now because he would probably be watched and he was tired. He was glad he had chosen Slytherin for many reasons, but at the moment the only reason he could think of was how comfortable the beds were.

 

Draco took the bed across from Merlin and Vincent Crabbe took the bed to the right of Draco and Gregory Goyle took the bed to the left of Draco and Blaise Zabini was to the left of Merlin.

 

Merlin pulled out a few basic items then moved his trunk to the end of his bed. Draco did the same and because he did so the other three in the room did the same.

 

Then, while they were getting ready for bed Draco asked, “What type of animal did you bring?”

 

Crabbe, Goyle, and Zabini all mentioned their owls, not forgetting to inform Draco of the species and color. “I would’a got a green one if I could,” Crabbe was saying, “’Cause I knew I was gunna be in Slytherin, but it would’a looked ridiculous so I got a silver one.”

 

Draco nodded but didn’t seem to care much, “A green owl would have been better than a rat like that blood-traitor Weasley.”

 

His posse laughed at the bad joke that he had made but Merlin just turned away. He would not be a part of it because while he may not be able to stop this behavior he wouldn’t encourage it.

 

“Father bought me an Eagle Owl last year.” Draco said sounding extremely smug, “Because he wanted it to have loyalty to me before I arrived. His name is Nemesia.” He stopped speaking then turned to Merlin, “What about you?”

 

Merlin looked up at him and hesitated to answer. He had a rather unusual pet. Still, not answering would be suspicious, “A Merlin, she’s a strong bird.”

 

He actually had two; a tawny owl that delivered official, family, messages and his Merlin that went on more personal errands. His Merlin was old but didn’t age as a normal thing, bird or otherwise should. He had gotten her around the time of the founders and had found a blood spell that linked his life the Merlins. It was a spell that made it so if he died the bird would continue to age normally, but if she died nothing would happen. All it required was the continuous sapping of just a bit of magic, not even enough to really notice.

 

“How long have you had it?” Draco asked.

 

Merlin clenched his teeth. Draco’s arrogance was noticeable even in this context. He couldn’t see people without magic as people so Merlin didn’t know why he had expected Draco to treat animals with respect. This wasn’t how he wanted to address Draco’s issues though so he relaxed and answered, “I’ve had her for a few years now. My Aunt gave her to me. Her name is Adora.”

 

Draco nodded and by then they were all crawling into their respective beds. The lights were shut off and then Merlin turned over and allowed his eyes to drop. This day had been more exhausting than any he had in recent years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What did you think?


	5. Judgmental

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the new chapter, I hope its good. 
> 
> I already have the next few chapters planned.

Merlin wasn’t surprised that while this year was similar to the many other years he had been through it was also different.

 

He was the first in the room to wake up and since it was too early in the morning to head downstairs for breakfast, and too early in the year to be seen wondering around, especially as a first year, he decided to just sit on the bench in front of the window. The greenish glow that usually came through during the day was absent because it was still not light outside, but the water from the Black Lake (or officially the Great Lake) wasn’t completely dark so Merlin could still see some colors and movements.

 

The common room would be dark now too instead of lit with the greenish glow.

 

“You seriously up already?” He heard Draco groan behind him as he sat up in his bed.

 

Merlin turned around and faced Draco, who was obviously still tired, and smiled. Draco’s hair wasn’t neatly brushed as it had been yesterday, but was instead going in all directions. “Yeah,” Merlin answered rubbing the back of his head, “I’m used to getting up pretty early.”

 

Draco made some noise that sounded like the beginnings of a laugh and then pulled himself out of bed and started getting ready. “Well, then lets head down early.”

 

Merlin nodded then turned back to face the window, and maybe look for the giant squid or some Merpeople, while Draco was getting ready. When he was ready he shot a glace at Merlin, to see if Merlin had noticed that he was ready, and when Merlin looked back at him Draco turned and headed out the door. Merlin followed after shooting one glance back at the three other boys sleeping in the room.

 

Merlin and Draco walked next to each other following the path they had taken to the dorms before. Merlin shot a sideways glance at Draco now and again, surprised that he had remembered the way and didn’t once falter in his steps.

 

After he was sure Draco knew where he was going Merlin let his eyes wonder over the paintings. He loved the things that magic could do; immortalize someone on a canvas that captured not only their looks but also their personality. Some of the people in the paintings shot him knowing glances but none said anything. The paintings and ghosts had come to a sort of agreement about him; they had decided not to tell anyone about the bored immortal.

 

Peeves also said nothing about him but sometimes said rhymes about him while he was near, not that anyone had ever figured anything out.

 

They reached the door of the Great Hall soon enough and there were students scattered about at each table but it wasn’t even comparable to the day before.

 

Draco didn’t pay it any mind though and sat down to eat. Merlin followed his lead and sat down as well but over the years he had discovered he didn’t eat quite as much as the average person. He took small bites and ate in silence since Draco still seemed a bit tired for conversation.

 

It didn’t take long for what peace there was to be broken. Slowly more students began to wonder in, and by the time they were finished eating, the Great Hall was full and the owls had begun to arrive. Crabbe, Goyle, and Zabini had also arrived and were making their way over to where he and Draco sat.

 

While they began to complain about being left in the room Merlin spotted Adora over head. She landed softly in front of him catching the attention of those around them. Merlin slid the letter she brought into his sleeve but they hadn’t noticed because Adora was also carrying the Daily Prophet. He had a subscription, well his family did, that went back to its creation so Adora was allowed to pick up a paper whenever he liked. She usually did every day, but on months where he was traveling he usually limited her pick-ups to once a week.

 

Draco looked at the paper, “Oh, you get the Daily Prophet delivered to you?”

 

Merlin fought the smile that almost made its way on to his face. It seemed Draco could be jealous of something as simple as a paper if someone had one and he didn’t. “Yes, I get one brought to me. My Aunt is usually out and about but I like to stay informed.” He said simply.

 

Draco took the out Merlin had given him as to not look a fool to anyone, “Yes, papers are such a hassle that I still haven’t decided if I want one to be delivered yet. Besides if anything happens father would send me a letter immediately.”

 

Merlin nodded. He was amused by Draco who reminded him so much of Arthur in some ways, though they were so different in others. Sometimes when Arthur had done something foolish he would expect Merlin to cover for him, take the blame if necessary, in order to preserve his image.

 

The headline on the newspaper was, “GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN LATEST” and the content wasn’t much help, but a look in the Crystal of Neahtid a few weeks after seeing Potter at Gringotts told him that Voldemort had tried to steel the philosopher’s stone. Merlin had decided not to intercede at the time because he saw that the vault would be empty. That led him to believe that Dumbledore had moved it here, but he had no proof and it hardly mattered anyway. If it wasn’t here and it was important Voldemort not get it the Old Religion would inform him, and if it was here, well so was he.

 

Merlin gave Adora a snack as he thought, while everyone seemed to forget about him and fall back into conversation, before she left to go back up to the Hogwarts Owlry. He would have to check the letter at some time when he was free, but it would end up being some business letter that he could have deal with rather quickly. That thought made him make a mental note to hire someone to deal with the finances, so he could have those letters forwarded to them.

 

When everyone was done they headed off to class, and the week fell into a routine. The first day also being the only day in which Draco didn’t have his owl bring him something. Everyday after that he received sweets, usually expensive and/or imported, even though he didn’t request the Daily Prophet.

 

Merlin wasn’t surprised by much though, and had in fact expected, the classes to be simple. Professor Sprout, the Herbology professor, was very enthusiastic and introduced them to plants and fungi, and their uses. Though Merlin already knew what she had to say he also knew that any sign that he wasn’t paying attention could lead to disaster. The same for could be said for Professor Flitwick’s class, Charms, though, because while interesting it was a bit boring as well. The school never did get interesting until about the third year, and then it really wasn’t because of the classes but because he could do more and it was less suspicious. Having those classes with Ravenclaw really didn’t make it better.

 

Professor Binns was the same as he had always been and when Merlin walked in he was recognized instantly, not that it would change anything in the class. He was happy that it was with Hufflepuff though.

 

Professor McGonagall was probably his favorite professor because her work ethic reminded him strongly of Gaius. She was strict and though she demonstrated a mastery of transfiguration that left her students in awe, or in as awe as Slytherin students could get, she started them out with something simple. A match into a needle.

 

Draco snickered quietly to him and told him how he couldn’t believe how slow this class would be going, but by the end of the lesson he was eating his words. He could change the shape of the match, but no more. He blushed a little at Merlin when it wasn’t as easy as he thought it would be, but since Merlin still had hope of showing him the correct path he didn’t make fun of him but said that he too thought it would be easier than it was.

 

Merlin didn’t want to stand out so he made sure than his transformation wasn’t complete, and was instead just a bit worse than Draco’s.

 

Merlin did wonder how the Ravenclaw students had done, as well as Hermione.

 

Professor Quirrell’s class surprised him. Than man was unexpectedly incompetent. The Ravenclaw students seemed to agree with him since, when he couldn’t answer the simplest of their questions, they started asking harder questions. Pretty soon it seemed as if they were quizzing him. Still it seemed that he did know what was in the book, so most of their work was directly out of it.

 

By the end of the week, Friday, Merlin and Draco were no longer the only first years able to find their way to the Great Hall without getting lost or turned around. They also had double Potions with Gryffindor. Professor Snape was known for favoring his own house but Merlin liked potions, mostly because of how long he lived with Gaius, so he couldn’t really see anything going wrong. Draco spoke nonstop about how Snape was friends with his parents so he couldn’t imagine him being anything but a good professor. Merlin thought he only said anything to seem important.

 

Merlin had sent the final letter dealing with the hiring of his new financial advisor the night before and had then promptly forwarded all business letters to her. He hadn’t met her but he had a good feeling about her and she seemed to be a sincere woman. Merlin was happy that now he could focus all of his attention on school, Voldemort, Morgana, and making the Slytherin house a bit better.

 

When they arrived at Snape’s classroom and took their seats very few other people were there. Everyone else seemed to file in a few minutes after they had pulled out most of their items. Zabini had seemed rather competent but Merlin wondered if Crabbe and Goyle combined would have enough brains to pass any of the classes. Draco, Merlin admitted, was rather brilliant at times.

 

Snape began the class by calling role.

 

He paused at Harrys name, “Ah, yes,” he was speaking softly, “Harry Potter. Our new – _celebrity._ ”

 

It was said sarcastically and though Draco and most of his other friends snickered about it Merlin looked away from Snape a bit disgusted. He had seen enough over the years of Voldemort and his followers to know about Snape. He also had an inkling as to why he would hate Harry for seemingly no reason, but that didn’t make much of a difference. He was taunting a boy for his loss and as of now seemed no better than Draco.

 

Snape then proceeded to finish calling role. When he finished he began to explain what he would expect and what would not be tolerated. He annoyed Merlin just enough to make him decide that he would be good enough to surprise him. Merlin would try to get him to understand humility.

 

When Snape finished speaking the room was quiet until he spoke again, “Potter! What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?”

 

Harry looked confused. In fact he was sure just about everyone was as clueless as he was, with the exception of Hermione whose had shot up.

 

“I don’t know, sir,” Harry answered slowly.

 

“Tut, tut – fame clearly isn’t everything.” Snape answered with a sneer, “Let’s try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?”

 

Draco and most of the other Slytherins were shaking as they tried to hold in their laughter. Hermione’s hand had shot up again, and again Snape ignored it.

 

Merlin could deal with students acting this ridiculous but a teacher doing it moved him to action before he could really think about what it was he was doing. Harry was about to, again, admit his lack of knowledge when Merlin cut him off. “Some would take it from a stomach of a goat but I’d rather get it from a shelf. Assuming Hogwarts has them around.”

 

The room fell silent. Draco couldn’t believe a Slytherin student had interrupted a teacher harassing Potter, as a matter of fact neither could Snape or the other Slytherin students, and the Gryffindor students seemed unable to figure out why he had helped either.

 

“I do have a supply but it would be unlikely _you_ would be allowed access.” Snape answered.

 

If Merlin knew what was good for him he would’ve quite while he was ahead but he’d never been good at keeping his mouth shut. “So you’d send out for a goat for me instead?” Merlin answered.

 

“Ambrosius stay after class,” Snape said stiffly, “Potter, what’s the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?”

 

Though Harry again didn’t know the answer the Slytherin students weren’t as in to it as before, still glancing at Merlin from the corner of their eye. Hermione actually seemed to be the only one not looking at him, because she was again raising her hand.

 

“I don’t know, why don’t you ask Hermione?” Harry practically whispered.

 

“For your information, Potter, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful its known as the Draught of Living Death. A bezoar,” here he shot a look at Merlin, “As Mr. Ambrosius pointed out, is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite.” When no one moved he sneered, “Well? Why aren’t you all copying that down?”

 

There was a sudden flurry of movement as people rummaged through their things to pull out a quill and parchment while they still remembered what had been said. “A point will be taken from Gryffindor House for your cheek, Potter.”

 

Someone on the Gryffindor side mumbled at that, “What about Myrddian?”

 

“Though Mr. Ambrosius spoke out of turn at least his answer was correct. He should do well to remember that I don’t tolerate insolence though.” He finished with a sharp look at Merlin that he fought not to reply with a smirk.

 

The lesson seemed to only get worse from there. Snape walked around criticizing everyone at one point or another. Well, except for Draco, who he seemed to like, and Merlin, where he found nothing to criticize, much to his dismay.

 

Merlin saw, a moment too late, the Gryffindor student, Neville, add porcupine quills and get soaked in his own potion. He fell to the floor in pain; red boils popping up on his face.

 

By this instance Merlin could determine, almost certainly, that Neville had the worst case of bad luck he had seen in a while. Merlin had checked the Crystal a few days after the Sorting Ceremony, when he remembered, for Neville’s past and had been upset by what he’d seen. The boy had certainly not had an easy life with his parents in Saint Mungo’s for something they would never recover from, and living with people who thought him incompetent in all things magic. Merlin was broken out of his reflection by Snape who was snarling, “Idiot boy!” as he cleaned up the potion; “I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?”

 

Neville was whimpering and Snape was doing a wonderful job of ignoring him. If Merlin had disliked Snape’s attitude before he didn’t know what to call his feelings now. He didn’t hate him, he hadn’t hated anyone for a long time, but it was stronger than simple dislike now.

 

“Take him up to the hospital wing,” Snape snapped at a random kid, Seamus (a Gryffindor student), he believed. Then he turned on Harry and his friend, Ron (another Weasley), who had been next to Neville. “Potter, why didn’t you tell him not to add the quills? Thought he’d make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? That’s another point you’ve lost Gryffindor.”

 

It took Merlin a moment to understand, then another to believe, that Snape had actually managed to blame a complete accident on Harry. The boy looked about to say something, Merlin would have, but his friend stopped him.

 

When they were dismissed he stayed behind, but didn’t say anything. When the door closed Snape looked up at him. “Just because you are in Slytherin does not mean I won’t take points from you the next time you mouth off.”

 

“I was wondering why you haven’t already.”

 

Snape’s eyes narrowed, “Are you trying to anger me? What has Potter done to make you _loyal_ to him?” he was practically snarling by the end.

 

Merlin leaned back in his chair as Snape leaned forward, “He hasn’t done anything and that’s sort of the problem.”

 

Snape stood abruptly then causing his chair to slide backwards, “Leave, and don’t mouth off again during my class.”

 

Merlin stood and said rather laxly, “Yes, sir.” Before exiting the classroom.

 

The second surprise of the day was finding Draco, alone, waiting for him to be dismissed. He was leaning against the wall next to the door and when Merlin opened it Draco looked up, “So what was that about?”

 

Merlin shrugged, “What do you mean?”

 

The door shut and Draco moved into Merlin’s path and crossed his arms, “Don’t play that with me, why did you defend Potter in there?”

 

“I don’t care who he is he didn’t deserve what Professor Snape was doing.”

 

“But he’s in Gryffindor.” Draco snarled.

 

Merlin wanted to roll his eyes at the argument. At one point he’d been in Gryffindor, “And? Why should that matter?”

 

“Because it does, because Gryffindor and Slytherin don’t get along.” Draco said trying to press his point.

 

Merlin shrugged, “I don’t think a house makes that much of a difference.”

 

“Then he deserved it because he hangs out with a Blood-traitor and a Mudblood!”

 

Merlin moved quicker than Draco could catch and had him pinned against the wall, “I’ve never liked those words. You’re judging people for things they have no control over.”

 

That was the crux of it too. He had spent the beginning of his life in fear because he had known that he could be killed for something he had no control over, something he was born with. Merlin couldn’t do that to someone else.

 

“You should understand!” Draco argued as he struggled against Merlin’s hold.

 

“I do, and that’s why I don’t want to ever hear those words again,” Merlin said beginning to loosen his hold and step back, “The question is do _you_ understand or do you just hate certain people because your dad tells you to.”

 

Merlin didn’t give him a chance to respond and instead began making his way to the Forbidden Forest.


	6. Flying

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay here's another chapter. Hope you like.

Merlin woke up as he always did, before everyone else, and for a moment he just lay there and thought.

 

Last night, after his confrontation with Malfoy, he had gone to the Forbidden Forest. He had walked around a bit, reacquainted himself with the area, and spoken to a few of the creatures that dwelled inside of it.

 

The centaurs were glad to see him. Bane and Ronan, who in particular, aren’t fond of humans of any kind, muggle or wizard, greeted him warmly. He had once asked why and was told it was because they didn’t see him as human, but as the Druids had seen him, the personification of magic itself. Of all the centaurs he liked Firenze the best though. Firenze was the closest to being free of hate.

 

Merlin had also stumbled upon a few unicorns. Anhora’s magic still attempted to protect them but it had been ages and no spell could be maintained forever. It had weakened to the point where Anhora could no longer appear though anyone who dared hurt a unicorn was cursed with bad luck. It was not to level it was when Arthur had killed a unicorn but it offered enough of a deterrent for most people. Still, Merlin could feel Anhora’s magic and it warned him of bad things to come even though it couldn’t tell him what.

 

He had even made a short trip to the edge of the Black Lake to speak with some of the Merpeople. Most magical things liked to be informed of his comings and goings. It also helped if they were in the loop so they don’t accidentally let information slip. Still he trusts things of magic more than people some times.

 

When he’d been on his way into the forest he had gone by Hagrid’s hut and had seen Harry and Ron inside. He was tempted to go and knock on the door to see what they were up to but based on Hagrid’s reaction to meeting him the first time, and the high probability that they would hate him for being in Slytherin, he decided not to risk it and made his trip undeterred.

 

Merlin had gotten in past curfew but he had always lived by the idea that if you don’t get caught it wasn’t so bad. Besides coming back too early meant he would run the risk of another confrontation with Draco.

 

With that thought Merlin got up and dressed. He would probably go down and wait in the common room for a while before heading to breakfast. A voice stopped him as he reached for the door, “So what was that about yesterday?”

 

Draco had sat up and was now getting out of his bed too. Merlin shrugged, “I told you.”

 

“When did you get back?”

 

Merlin smiled, “What, are you going to tell on me for being out late?”

 

Draco snorted, “As if,” neither spoke for a minute then Draco turned around, “Wait for me in the common room, I’ll be down in a bit.”

 

Merlin nodded before leaving. He was glad that he was right about Draco at least having a chance to change. He’d seen the things that Draco would do, what he would become, if he didn’t change. A few lifetimes had taught him how to change things and what things could be changed. Draco did not have Mordred’s fate, his future was not set in stone, and Merlin hoped that he could do enough.

 

While Merlin was waiting for Draco a notice on the bulletin board caught his eye. They would be having flying lessons on Thursday, not so bad, except they were to be with Gryffindor.

 

He heard Draco entering before he asked, “What are you looking at over there Myrddian?”

 

Merlin didn’t bother to answer immediately because Draco was already coming up behind him, reading over his shoulder. At Draco’s chuckle Merlin answered, “Flying lessons.”

 

“With Gryffindor, that’s going to be interesting,” seeming to remember the last _conversation_ they had about Gryffindor he changed the subject rather quickly, “I don’t need flying lessons though, what about you?”

 

Merlin shrugged, “Not really.”

 

“I still can’t believe that first years aren’t allowed to bring their own brooms.” Draco began and Merlin just nodded, pretending to listen, because lately this was the subject that Draco just couldn’t let go of so he continued to harp. When they were around Gryffindor, and Harry in particular, Draco took to telling stories of things that had happened while he had been flying.

 

They continued the conversation as they headed to the Great Hall and when Crabbe, Goyle, and Zabini caught up to them they easily joined into their conversation. It seemed that all three of them had been flying in the past and also thought the lesson’s main attraction would be watching the new Gryffindor’s fail.

 

Merlin also caught Zabini echoing one of Draco’s earlier complaints, “The Quidditch team should also be open to accepting first years.”

 

Merlin halfway listened to Draco’s agreement. Merlin had been looking forward to flying lessons but he couldn’t understand their desperate need to get put on the Slytherin team, because first years didn’t usually get accepted on to the Quidditch teams because of more experienced players being available. Besides first years usually need time to adjust to life at the school.

 

The group arrived at the Great Hall a bit later than usually because of the slow pace they had walked at in order to speak. It was because of the late arrival that it was of no surprise that most other students were already there.

 

They passed the Gryffindor table in time to see Neville opening a package that contained a small glass ball filled with white smoke, a Remembrall.

 

Neville recognized it too, “It’s a Remembrall!” he explained happily, “Gran knows I forget things – this tells you if there’s something you’ve forgotten to do. Look, you hold it tight like this and if it turns red – oh…” they were close enough to the table now that Merlin saw Neville’s face drop, “…you’ve forgotten something…”

 

The Remembrall was a scarlet now, signaling that Neville had forgotten something. Neville’s face scrunched up in confusion, and Merlin could tell that he was desperately trying to think of what it was he had forgotten.

 

Malfoy seemed to notice what was going on at the Gryffindor’s table as well because as they walked by he snatched the Remembrall out of Neville’s hand.

 

Ron and Harry reacted immediately, jumping to their feet, and seemed to want a reason to fight. Professor McGonagall, who Merlin now appreciated more than ever, was there in an instant though.

 

She asked curtly, “What’s going on here?”

 

Neville looked up at her nervously, but he was the one who answered her, “Malfoy’s got my Remembrall, Professor.”

 

Draco, who realized there was only one way out of it, dropped the Remembrall back on to the table scowling, “Just looking.”

 

He turned away and Crabbe, Goyle, and Zabini followed reluctantly. Merlin sighed and went to follow them but was stopped by Fred and George as Professor McGonagall walked away.

 

“Hey buddy.” Fred said draping an arm over his shoulder.

 

“We were disappointed you got put in Slytherin.” George continued draping his arm over Merlin’s other shoulder.

 

“But then we heard about that disagreement you had with Snape.” Fred said.

 

“ _Professor_ Snape,” George corrected sarcastically, “usually doesn’t have problems with people from his own house.”

 

“Mostly because he favors them.” Fred explained.

 

“We like you…”

 

“Even though you’re in Slytherin...”

 

“Though it doesn’t seem that they like us much.” George finished as he moved his head toward the Slytherin table where Draco and his posse was shooting dirty looks their way.

 

“So Good-bye.” They said both releasing him and waving as they headed back to there seats at their table.

 

When Merlin sat down at the table none of them said anything though, probably because Draco didn’t say anything. --

 

When three thirty came around they all headed outside for their flying lessons. They had mostly avoided any serious conversation and Draco had yet to mention him being friendly with the twins. In fact all any of them had really talked about all day was the upcoming flying lesson.

 

The day was clear and only had a light breeze. Merlin thought that they had picked a good day for the lesson because it was such a nice day.

 

The Slytherin students got there first and it was only after a few minutes that the Gryffindor students arrived, coming down the front steps. Draco had spent the time that they were waiting for their fellow students looking at the school brooms lined up on the ground complaining about how old and useless they were.

 

Draco was forced to stop though when Madam Hooch arrived a few seconds after the Gryffindors and began barking at them, “Well, what are you all waiting for? Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up,” causing the students to hurry into their places, and when everyone was lined up she called from the end of the line, “Stick out your right had over your broom and say ‘Up!’”

 

Everyone shouted “Up!” then at different times and at different volumes.

 

The students who had been on a broom before were easily spotted. Their brooms shot up and into their hands immediately. What surprised Merlin was that Harry’s broom had reacted to his command the first time though he was sure the boy had never been on a broom before.

 

Most brooms twitched or rolled around. Neville’s was one of the few whose broom had not reacted to the command at all, but Merlin was also sure that the boy wasn’t trying at all. Eventually everyone had their broom jumping up at their call.

 

Madam Hooch then began showing the students how to mount their brooms and not fall off the end of it. Draco had gotten done it incorrectly but before Merlin could correct him and spare him the embarrassment Madam Hooch noticed and corrected him. This was to the delight of Harry and Ron.

 

Merlin knew that Draco shouldn’t have been upset at the correction considering Merlin was the only one who wasn’t corrected but he was. It was nothing less than Merlin had expected though.

 

“Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard,” Madam Hooch commanded, “Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle – three – two –,”

 

Merlin watched, horrified, as Neville pushed off too early because he was so jumpy and nervous. Madam Hooch called for him to come back but Merlin doubted that Neville had that kind of control. In fact he was rising so fast, already at twenty feet, that Merlin decided to interfere. His eyes went gold for a moment causing the broom to begin its decent but he should have reacted sooner because Neville was already slipping off the broom.

 

He fell and Merlin could do nothing to stop it, so while he slowed the boy’s decent as much as possible to prevent death he would be injured. He had still hit the ground hard and his face was white. Merlin hoped his fear would have prevented him from noticing anything strange about his fall.

 

Neville’s broom was out of sight by then, having fallen somewhere else entirely, and Madam Hooch was bending over Neville.

 

She looked panicked as well. He could still hear the surprise in her voice when she muttered, “Broken wrist,” it seemed she had expected more injuries, “Come on, boy – it’s all right, up you get.”

 

She turned to the rest of the class, seeming to regain her composure, “None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! You leave those brooms where they are or you’ll be out of Hogwarts before you can say ‘Quidditch’. Cone on, dear.”

 

They quickly moved out of earshot and Draco burst into laughter, “Did you see his face, the great lump?”

 

The others in his posse laughed, as did a few others who wished to get on Draco’s good side. Merlin turned away from him, not finding this funny. The boy had almost, could’ve, died.

 

“Shut up, Malfoy,” snapped Parvati Patail, a Gryffindor who Merlin was beginning to respect.

 

A girl spoke next, Pansy Parkinson, a girl from Slytherin, “Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?” she sneered, “Never thought you’d like fat little crybabies, Parvati.”

 

Merlin hated the girl, but as long as it was just words he would try to ignore it. He wouldn’t be able to change Draco if the boy hated him, and trying to blend in would be hard if his house hated him.

 

“Look!” Draco shouted, drawing him out of his thoughts, and picking something up off the ground. “It’s that stupid thing Longbottom’s gran sent him.”

 

Merlin was surprised that Draco had been listening to the conversation at the Gryffindor table.

 

“Give that here, Malfoy,” Harry said causing everyone to stop what they were doing and watch the exchange.

 

Merlin knew part of this was caused by Draco’s pride, which had been hurt earlier when he had been corrected, but he was going too far.

 

Draco smiled nastily. “I think I’ll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find – how about – up a tree?”

 

“Draco.” Merlin said quietly next to him.

 

Draco narrowed his eyes at Merlin but Harry spoke before either of them could again, “Give it here!”

 

It seemed Merlin turning on him and Harry yelling at him had pushed Draco past his limit. Draco jumped on to his broom then and pushed off. He paused level with the top of the nearest tree, “Come and get it!”

 

Harry took the taunt personally but Merlin could see it was directed at him too. It seemed Draco hadn’t completely forgiven him for shoving him into a wall.

 

Harry grabbed his broom and Hermione tried to stop him. He had everyone’s attention, and it was because of this that no one noticed when Merlin got on his broom and flew up to meet Draco.

 

“What are you doing up here? Come to collect Longbottom’s Remembrall?” Draco teased.

 

“I don’t like bullies.” Merlin said, narrowing his eyes, “I don’t see why you need to do this. They’ve done nothing to you.”

 

“You’re pureblood too, why don’t you understand?” Draco asked sharply.

 

Their conversation, argument, was interrupted by Harry who had flown up as well. He looked between the two of them as he turned his broom to face Draco. “Give it here,” Harry commanded.

 

“Oh, yeah?” Draco asked teasingly, but Merlin could see the worry.

 

He knew that he was out numbered and he probably didn’t have as much experience flying as he said he did.

 

“Draco, just give it back. You’re being ridiculous.” Merlin sighed, exasperated.

 

Harry shot toward Draco but he managed to move at the last minute. “You guys, fighting won’t solve anything,” Merlin tried to reason, “You’re both being stupid. Draco.”

 

“Fine,” Draco said moving as if he was going to give it back but Merlin caught his intention at the last minute, “Catch it if you can, then!”

 

Draco threw it the shout, and then lowered himself to the ground. Merlin followed. He hadn’t realized it before but this was one of the visions he had seen in the Crystal of Neahtid, so he knew Harry wouldn’t be hurt. No one knew what had been said up there though so Merlin was receiving as many dirty looks as Draco was from the Gryffindor students.

 

Draco wouldn’t look at him though, probably angry.

 

Harry landed soon after them and everyone was cheering. It was cut off by the curt voice of Professor McGonagall, “HARRY POTTER!”

 

She couldn’t seem to compose a sentence though and it didn’t help that the many students trying to come to Harry’s defense kept cutting her off. She wouldn’t hear it though and she led Harry away.

 

Draco, Crabbe, Goyle, and Zabini looked especially pleased with the idea of Harry getting into trouble. Merlin started to walk off but soon noticed he was being followed.

He ignored the person until they grabbed his arm and spun him around.

 

It was Draco. His posse was back with the others in the class, too far away to hear what was being said.

 

“What was that about?” Draco asked angrily.

 

“I’ve told you. I don’t like name-calling and I don’t like bullies. You’re punishing him because he rejected you – I heard about what happened on the train. Don’t you find that a bit childish?” Merlin asked.

 

“We’re better than they are!” Draco insisted.

 

“Because of who our parents are? Because we were born _pureblood_?” Merlin asked stiffly. “Those who don’t know their history are doomed to repeat it.”

 

“What does that even mean?” Draco sneered.

 

“It means you’re being a prat.” Merlin stated crossing his arms.

 

“Don’t act like you’re any better than me.” Draco insisted, “Your family is as well-known as mine.”

 

“I’m not better than you, or anyone else for that matter, and that’s the point.” Merlin argued, “My family may be pureblood but they’ve never thought themselves better than anyone.”

 

“What do you know?” Draco said finally, turning away from Merlin.

 

“More than you apparently.” Merlin responded before leaving the field and heading back to the castle and to his room.

 

Dealing with Draco reminded him of dealing with a young Arthur. It was exhausting and seemed pointless most of the time. Merlin still couldn’t believe that there were those who were willing to persecute those without magic, or those without magic parents. It wasn’t so long ago, not to him anyway, when it was the opposite. When it was the muggles who had gotten it into their heads that they should kill all those with magic.

 

Those like Uther and Morgana would exist forever it seemed. It also didn’t help that he was constantly wondering when the other shoe would drop, when Morgana would be revived.

 

Merlin sighed. Today was the day when Harry would become a seeker, when he would find someplace he felt completely comfortable. It would be helpful later, provide him with confidence.

 

It would be dinnertime soon and Merlin didn’t feel like going, maybe after dinner he would sneak out to the Forbidden Forest. 


	7. Duel Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was told that sometime in the last two chapters I managed to get my timeline messed up, and they were right. But, I'm still running on inspiration so I won't go back and correct it until later.  
> I hope that you guys like this chapter. I've made some major changes with what is supposed to happen.

Merlin found himself sneaking though the castle, but instead of heading to the Forbidden Forest like he had planned he was headed to the trophy room.

 

Draco had, apparently, not told anyone of his and Merlin’s argument because none of their classmates had thought to watch their words around him. Which was how he had found out that Draco had challenged Harry to a wizard’s duel that he had no intention of showing up to.

 

They had decided on midnight at the trophy room. Then Draco had told Filch that he heard a rumor that students would be meeting in the trophy room at midnight. Merlin couldn’t believe that Draco wanted him expelled so bad he would sink this low.

 

Then again maybe he could. This was the type of thing Merlin himself would have done during his time at Camelot, set someone up for something they didn’t do. He had, in fact, done it several times including, but not limited to, the incident with the Witchfinder.

 

He arrived at the trophy room just in time; beating Filch they’re with Mrs. Norris by a couple of minutes.

 

As he entered he saw Harry already had his wand out and Ron whispered, “He’s late, maybe he’s chickened out?”

 

It wasn’t just Harry and Ron there like he had thought, but Hermione and Neville too.

 

“He’s not coming. You guys should be leaving.” Merlin whispered as he stepped into the light so they could see him.

 

Their immediate reaction, well Harry and Ron’s, was to point their wands at him.

 

“Why, so he can tell everyone that Harry here chickened out?” Ron sneered.

 

“Guys.” Hermione seemed to be begging to leave.

 

Harry just looked at him, “What do you mean?” he asked.

 

At that they heard footsteps then, “Sniff around, my sweet, they might be lurking in a corner.”

 

Merlin watched as the four stiffened at the voice. He gestured for them to follow, and while Ron hesitated, they all did. As they reached the door, getting further from Filch by the second when they heard him say, “They’re in here somewhere,” then mutter, “probably hiding.”

 

Harry took the lead then. They were all running and Merlin followed because they didn’t trust him enough to follow his lead instead of Harry’s but he needed to make sure they didn’t get caught.

 

They slowed, and it seemed as if they were home free, until a door rattled and Peeves came shooting out.

 

When he saw them he squealed in delight.

 

Harry tried to reason with him, beg, but nothing worked. Merlin hadn’t expected any of that to work on Peeves though, because he got off on chaos.

 

Peeves cackled. “Wandering around at midnight, Ickle Firsties? Tut, tut, tut. Naughty, naughty, you’ll get caught.”

 

“Not if you don’t give us away Peeves.” Harry reasoned.

 

It might have worked too but Ron took a swipe at Peeves and Merlin wanted to bang his head against a wall, “Get out of the way.”

 

“STUDENTS OUT OF BED!” Peeves bellowed, no less than Merlin had expected, “STUDENTS OUT OF BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!”

 

Merlin saw the four duck under Peeves but he waited a minute before silently gaining Peeves attention. Peeves froze when he saw Merlin. Merlin didn’t give him a chance to say anything though, “Don’t tell him who it was, don’t tell him which way we went.” Merlin commanded watching Ron panic from the corner of his eye. For a minute he thought he would have to open a door but Hermione did so for him and he was thankful, “Just annoy him and maybe send him in another direction.” Merlin said quickly before following the others into the formerly locked room before they could notice he wasn’t there.

 

They stood next to the door listening then as Filch made he way to Peeves. Merlin could tell they all pretty much thought they were done for.

 

“Which way did they go, Peeves?” Filch was asking, “Quick, tell me.”

 

“Say ‘please’.”

 

“Don’t mess with me, Peeves, now where did they go?”

 

“Shan’t say nothing if you don’t say please.” Peeves sang.

 

“All right – Please.”

 

Merlin wasn’t even worried, not really. Peeves liked causing chaos and he hated Filch. “NOTHING! Ha haaaa! Told you I wouldn’t say nothing if you didn’t say please! Ha ha! Haaaa!”

 

Filch cursed and Peeves sang again, “Maybe this way, maybe that, maybe they went right.” The he was whooshing away leaving Filch cursing, but his voice was getting farther and farther left. Apparently he didn’t trust Peeves.

 

“I think we’ll be okay,” Harry said, “Get off Neville.”

 

Neville was having a bit of a panic attack though, holding desperately on to Harrys robe. Merlin had realized what room they were in and had been sending soothing waves of magic over the three-headed dog, but the others were just noticing now.

 

It was looking at them and Harry tried to grab the handle and when he finally got a hold of it and the door opened the four of them fell out. Merlin left more calmly closing the door behind him and then locking it.

 

Harry went to head upstairs and to the Gryffindor tower, but that was left, and the way Filch had gone, so Merlin tugged him in the opposite direction and they followed. They hardly noticed where they were going, following him blindly hyped up on adrenaline, and so he led them to the kitchens. At the moment there were only one or two house elves running around.

 

When they were clearly safe Neville leaned over one of the counters looking pale and scared half to death. The others didn’t look much better.

 

Finally Ron spoke, “What do they think they’re doing, keeping a thing like that locked up in a school?” he asked, “If any dog needs exercise, that one does.”

 

Hermione came back to herself second, “You don’t use your eyes, any of you, do you?” she snapped, “Didn’t you see what it was standing on?”

 

“The floor?” Harry suggested, “I wasn’t looking at its feet, I was too busy with its heads.”

 

Merlin wanted to laugh. Hermione was great at observing the things around her and it just hadn’t occurred to her that others weren’t quite as bright as her. “No, not the floor,” she said irritably, “It was standing on a trapdoor. It’s obviously guarding something.”

 

“Oh,” Harry said and Merlin could see the gears in his head turning.

 

It occurred to Merlin then that Harry might know about the Philosopher’s stone, or at least have an idea as to what was hidden under the dog. Merlin had just pieced it all together himself.

 

“Yes, oh. I hope you’re pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed – or worse, expelled. Now we have to figure out how to get back to the common room without getting caught.”

 

Now Ron seemed to be remembering something and he spun around to face Merlin, “What were you doing there, by the way?” he sneered.

 

Merlin raised his hands, “Trying to help you out.”

 

“Why would you do that?” Ron asked narrowing his eyes.

 

Merlin didn’t have to respond because Hermione did for him, “Oh god Ron, if he wanted us caught all he would have had to do is just not show up.” She turned to him, “Thank you for that Mryddian.”

 

“But he’s in Slytherin!” Ron argued, “And friends with Malfoy!”

 

Harry just looked at him though, “Maybe,” Harry said, “But he did try to help me get back Neville’s Remembrall and he tried to help me out in Potions that day too.”

 

The first part had caught Neville’s attention and his eyes shot up to Merlin’s.

 

“Besides,” Hermione said, “I told you this was a bad idea. It was obviously a trap Malfoy set up.”

 

Merlin nodded, “Heard some people talking about it in the common room a few hours ago. Thought I could help.”

 

Ron regarded him suspiciously but didn’t say anything else about it. Neville had finally composed himself enough to speak though, “So how are we going to get back?”

 

Hermione looked deep in thought but Merlin knew the only way was up the stairs, and pray you don’t get caught, but he hadn’t gone through all this trouble for nothing, “I’ve got it covered, just wait here.”

 

They nodded and he made his way over to a house elf that was busying himself cleaning one of the far counters, “Um, could you do me a favor.” He asked.

 

The house elf turned around and caught sight of who had spoken and quickly bowed, “Master Emrys, you haven’t been here in a while.”

 

Merlin recognized the house elf then, “How have you been Tadic?”

 

“Fine, fine,” Tadic bowed, happy that Merlin had remembered his name, “Fine Master Emrys.”

 

Tadic was a little over a hundred and had been here the last two times he had come to Hogwarts. The house elves had passed down stories of him through the years though, so they knew who he was. They had loyalty to him, as he was one of the founders.

 

“I’m glad Tadic. I’m going by Mryddian at the moment though, so I’d prefer if you call me that or…”

 

“Of course, sorry Master Ambrosius.” Tadic corrected, remembering from the last time they had met.

 

Merlin smiled, “Would you do me a favor and bring them,” he gestured to the four students, “to their common room.”

 

“Of course Master Ambrosius.” Tadic agreed readily.

 

Merlin walked back to Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville. “Tadic here has offered to take you back to your common room by Apparation, but it will be uncomfortable.”

 

When they had all agreed they vanished with Tadic. When they got back to the common room at least one of them, probably Neville, would throw up.

 

Merlin laughed quietly at the thought then headed back to his room. It was too late to go to the Forbidden Forest now anyway.


	8. Changes Made

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Merlin or Harry Potter.
> 
> Hope you like this so far.

While Merlin didn’t speak to Draco the next day he did see Draco’s surprise at seeing Harry and Ron walking around, and not in trouble.

 

Merlin also noticed that the four of them had composed themselves. Harry had even shot a grin Merlin’s way when he saw him enter the Great Hall. Neville, while composed, looked a bit more nervous than usual, and, if Merlin had to guess, he would think that Neville would probably never go near that door again.

 

That was how things began to fall back into their normal routine.

 

By the third day Draco was speaking to Merlin again, though they didn’t mention any of their previous arguments. Since Draco hadn’t told anyone about their fight it didn’t damage his image any either.

 

That was also Fred and George had approached him.

 

Merlin had been minding his own business, leaving the Great Hall a bit early after he finished eating, when the twins stopped him. They had each carelessly thrown an arm over his shoulders saying, “So there’s are favorite little Slytherin.”

 

“Fred, George,” Merlin acknowledged, “So what are we up to today?”

 

“We were thinking,” said George.

 

“That maybe it’s time to take on an apprentice.” Finished Fred.

 

“Why, are you guys planning something?” Merlin asked, interested, he had been bored as of late.

 

“Maybe some Dungbombs,” Fred admitted.

 

“Or some Hiccup Sweets,” George added.

 

Merlin smiled, “So you guys are bored too?”

 

“How’d you know!” they both exclaimed at the same time with a smile.

 

“If you’re going to do Dungbombs you’ll be suspected so I’d just give two, or so, to Peeves with a promise not to drop them on you, but if you want the sweets I’d put them on tables in the Great Hall during dinner, at least one person will eat it.” Merlin said shrugging.

 

“Brilliant,” George said patting him on the back.

 

“See, Peeves likes us, so we’ll go with the first.” Fred explained.

 

“And we can’t get caught,” George said, “Cause we didn’t actually do anything.”

 

They both laughed then, waving as they walked off, but before they were out of sight Fred spun around to face Merlin, “Just so you know this doesn’t count.”

 

“Yup,” said George turning to face Merlin as well, “If you really want to be one of us you’ll have to prove yourself.”

 

“Lee’s first prank was pretty good.” Fred reminisced.

 

“Wonder if you can top it?” George wondered out loud.

 

Merlin shrugged, “Guess we’ll have to wait and see,” he responded with a smile.

 

Both of the twins sent him a smile before they continued on their way.

 

Merlin sighed then, realizing that he had a class to get to.

 

At breakfast the next day someone from the Gryffindor house passed him a note that gave a floor and a time period. Merlin assumed that was where, and when, Peeves was going to drop the Dungbombs and made a note to stay away. He was glad it wasn’t around anywhere he had a class. It would be hard to explain not showing up if he didn’t know about the surprise attack.

 

Merlin was surprised how calm the year had been so far though. Every once in a while he’d go check the Crystal and have a vision but all of those seemed so far in the future that none of it really mattered at the moment.

 

He’d seen Voldemort coming back, but it couldn’t be prevented, and he’d seen bits of the past as well. He’d begun to understand Snape a bit more, but it didn’t make him like him.

 

Even Draco hadn’t been harassing Gryffindor students as much, and he’d been staying away from Harry, so Merlin was beginning to relax.

 

It wasn’t until a few days later that Merlin really appreciated the calm though.

 

He had seen the broom get dropped off for Harry and knew that it was because he had become seeker. If he had to guess either Dumbledore or McGonagall had sent the broom to him since they were, probably, of the small group of people who knew he would need it.

 

Harry and Ron had rushed out of the Great Hall, probably to open the package. Merlin had a bad feeling and got up to follow. Draco followed him.

 

In the Entrance Hall Merlin’s fears were proven as reasonable because Ron and Harry had been blocked by Crabbe, Goyle, and Zabini.

 

“That’s a broomstick,” Zabini frowned, “You’ll be in for it this time, Potter, first years aren’t allowed to have those.”

 

Ron couldn’t resist it teasing them, “It’s not any old broomstick,” he teased, “it’s a Nimbus Two Thousand. What did you say you’ve got at home? Maybe a Comet Two Sixty?” Ron and Harry shared a smile, “Comets look flashy, but they’re not in the same league as the Nimbus.”

 

Draco, who was standing next to Merlin, snarled at this because he had a Comet Two Sixty. Still Merlin was proud because Draco had not yet interfered. He had hope that Draco might be changing, at least a little bit.

 

Zabini sneered, “What would you know about it, Weasley, you couldn’t afford half the handle. I suppose you and your brothers have to save up twig by twig.”

 

If Merlin had to guess he would say that Zabini had not only been taking up Draco’s position as leader of Crabbe and Goyle but took it upon himself to pick up Draco’s slack when it came to harassing people. Still though Crabbe, Goyle, and Zabini would back up Draco when he required.

 

Before the argument could progress farther Professor Flitwick appeared behind Zabini. “Not arguing, I hope, boys?” he squeaked.

 

Draco stepped into the conversation then and Crabbe, Goyle, and Zabini fell in step behind him. “Potter’s been sent a broomstick, Professor.”

 

“Yes, yes, that’s right,” Flitwick said, beaming at Harry, “Professor McGonagall told me all about the special circumstances, Potter. And what model is it?”

 

“A Nimbus Two Thousand, sir,” Harry said and Merlin noticed that he seemed amused by Draco’s look of horror and Zabini’s poorly concealed rage, “And it’s really thanks to Malfoy here that I’ve got it,” he added.

 

Then Harry and Ron took off up stairs and Professor Flitwick smiled at them before making his way into the Great Hall.

 

Draco watched them leave with a mixture of confusion and rage on his face. Then he turned to Merlin, “What did he mean, thanks to me?”

 

Though the question sounded rhetorical Merlin shrugged. They would find out eventually but telling anyone would raise questions of how he knew something that was being kept a secret.

 

“I’m heading to the library.” Merlin said.

 

Draco looked at him then shrugged before walking in the other direction. Zabini, Crabbe, and Goyle followed him.

 

Merlin had wanted to stop by because he had felt an odd magic coming from one of the side rooms. This place was lousy with strange magic but most of it he recognized from his previous visits.

 

Following the magic got Merlin thinking of Quirrell. He was drenched in some evil magic. He hadn’t noticed it at first but slowly that magic had been getting stronger and smothering Quirrell’s own, natural, magic. Merlin wondered if he had stumbled across a cursed item. He would mention it to someone but explaining how he came across any information like that would be difficult, especially since there was no proof.

 

When Merlin finally reached the door where he felt the strange magic coming. It looked like it was an unused room but Merlin gave a quick glance around to make sure he wasn’t spotted. He then opened the door leading to the odd magic slowly, trying not to make a sound, and slipped inside.

 

Taking a breath Merlin now looked around the room more carefully. He realized where the magic was coming from almost immediately. There was a rather large mirror pushed up against the back wall. It had a gold frame and legs. On the top of the mirror, in the gold frame, there were words carved, ‘ _Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi’._

 

Merlin knew what it was then. He had rumors of such a mirror being created. He had also learned enough languages in his lifetime to be able to translate the inscription easily _. ‘_ _I show not your face but your heart's desire_ _.’_ Merlin had not really fancied the idea of a mirror showing someone his or her true desires, but Merlin already knew what his would be.

 

He slipped out of the room as silently as he had come in and headed to his first class before he was late. He never bothered to look into the mirror or look back at it. Merlin also knew that he wouldn’t go back to that room either. Some things could cause more pain then they were meant to after all.

 

That night, and for a few nights after, when he fell asleep he dreamed of being back in Camelot. He dreamed that he had grown old with his friends. They’d all been alive, old, and with children, as they would have been if he’d looked in the mirror. Still, he accepted that dreaming about it was probably less painful than actually seeing it. He knew that he would be avoiding that mirror, forever if necessary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so you've probably noticed that I've started to replace Draco with Zabini and it's because neither Crabbe nor Goyle seem competent enough to be in charge of anything or at all cunning, but I do want Draco to be a good guy eventually. The big problem is some things have to happen so if Draco can't do it Zabini needs to.
> 
> Don't misunderstand though, Draco and Harry (or Ron or Hermione) will probably never be friends. Draco (and the twins probably) will end up helping Merlin with whatever he's doing with the trio mostly do their own thing.
> 
> The books will probably begin the major changes around the end of the fourth book.


	9. Halloween

Time moved quickly while at Hogwarts and Merlin was surprised to find that was just as true this time around as any other.

 

He hadn’t had much time to check the Crystal of Neahtid for any upcoming disasters since Draco had been trying harder to see where Merlin was coming from.

 

Merlin had given Draco the short version on why he wouldn’t judge people on who they were, mostly referencing the Salem Witch Trial, and told him how magic and muggle had always been at war with each other. Merlin and Draco’s arguments hadn’t stopped though. Draco still thought he was better than other people, but Merlin was just happy that he was listening.

 

Most of their arguments had been due to Snape and their potion’s class. Merlin still tried to help Harry out when possible, but he hadn’t limited himself to Harry. When he could he gave Neville, and other students, help and pointers. That isn’t to say he only helped Gryffindor but that he helped the Gryffindor and Slytherin students equally.

 

When he helped students Snape continuously shot him dirty looks but didn’t say anything and never took off any points from Slytherin.

 

Draco let him do as he wanted without criticizing him, much, but every once in a while Draco would roll his eyes at Merlin dramatically and say that as long as he didn’t loose them any points he could care less what he did.

 

Zabini had seemed to take Draco’s role, harassing anyone he felt like from any house he wanted, and Draco spent more time with Merlin, and sometimes the Weasley twins, instead of Crabbe and Goyle.

 

The only rivalry that Draco wouldn’t give up was the one with Harry. Merlin knew it was more that Harry had hurt his pride rather than anything about Harry’s past, so Merlin let it go as long as he wasn’t cruel.

 

Still, time moved too quickly and it was Halloween before Merlin had even realized it.

 

From the moment Merlin had woken up he was on edge. The veil between the world of the living and the dead became thinner on this day and Merlin could feel it. It had been on a Halloween not to long ago when Morgana and managed to slip between worlds, if only for a second.

 

He’d expected a bad day from the start, but nothing bad happened. In fact the problem soon became that it was so peaceful he had no explanation for the knot in his stomach. If he was 1,000 years younger he might have thought he was over reacting but by now he could distinguish normal paranoia from _knowing_ something was wrong.

 

By the time the dinner feast rolled around and nothing bad had happened Merlin was on edge.

 

They were on their way into the Great Hall when Draco spun around to face him. Zabini and the others paused, to see what Draco wanted them to do, but Draco waved them off. When they were out of sight Draco asked, “What’s wrong with you? You’ve been jumpy all day.”

 

Merlin hadn’t realized that he’d been so obvious, but he tried to brush it off, “Nothing,” he said rubbing the back of his head, “I just have a bad feeling.”

 

Draco raised an eyebrow at him. “Will you quite being a baby then. I don’t want to miss the feast.”

 

Merlin nodded, and after sizing him up, Draco nodded back and headed to the Great Hall for the feast with Merlin following him.

 

They had barely sat down when Quirrell, whose magic was more nauseating than ever, came running into the Great Hall. His clothes were in disarray and he looked pale and panicky. He had reached Dumbledore with everyone’s eyes on him. He was out of breath but managed to gasp out, “Troll – in the dungeons – thought you ought to know.” Before fainting.

 

There was a burst of noise before Dumbledore silenced it with a mini-display of fireworks, “Prefects,” he commanded, “lead your Houses back to the dormitories immediately!”

 

Ivan took control and began ushering everyone into a line. Draco turned to Merlin, “What did you do?”

 

Merlin took a moment to looked offended, “Me? Why would you think I did something?”

 

Draco sized him up, “Trolls are stupid. I doubt one could have found its way into the castle on accident and you’ve been acting strange all day.”

 

Zabini, who’d only caught the beginning of what Draco was saying, said, “Maybe Peeves thought it’d be a good joke, being Halloween and all. I wouldn’t put it past him.”

 

They happened to be going by Harry and Ron when he caught their conversation.

 

“I’ve just thought – Hermione.”

 

“What about her?”

 

“She doesn’t know about the troll.” Harry said seriously, pressing Ron.

 

Then they were being pushed past, so he didn’t hear what Ron had said but he couldn’t imagine them leaving her so when they ducked into Hufflepuff’s line Merlin followed. This was probably the bad feeling he’d been getting.

 

What he hadn’t expected was for himself to be followed, “What are you doing?” Draco asked from behind him.

 

Merlin almost jumped. He hadn’t been paying attention to what the others were doing but with Draco’s previous suspicions about him letting the Troll out he shouldn’t have been surprised.

 

“Harry and Ron took off. I think someone might be in trouble.” Merlin answered honestly.

 

“So lets report them.” Draco said.

 

“Just come on,” Merlin said beginning to drag Draco along with him, but stopped and hid behind the wall, pulling Draco with him, when he saw Snape going past.

 

“Lets just tell Snape.” Draco said, pointing at the teacher that had just passed.

 

“But we’ll get in trouble as well.” Merlin said, already hurrying in the direction of the scent.

 

Draco was following, but not paying much attention, as he realized that they could get in trouble too.

 

When they finally reached Harry and Ron a high scream came out of the locked door that he supposed the Troll was in, as well as Hermione.

 

Harry and Ron were fumbling with the lock and Merlin didn’t know how much time she had so he shoved them out of the way as he pulled out his wand and broke the chain.

 

Ron scowled and him and Draco, “What are you guys doing here?”

 

Harry cut him off before either he or Draco could answer, “I don’t think now’s the time.”

 

Ron seemed to reluctantly agree because he turned away from them and threw open the door. Inside Hermione was curled against the opposite wall and the Troll was advancing.

 

“Confuse it!” Harry said desperately to Ron, but it was Draco who acted first.

 

“Hey, Pea-brain!” Draco called as he picked up something from the floor and throwing it at the Troll’s head.

 

Ron seemed to pick up on the idea and continued jeering at the Troll, throwing whatever he could find. Harry took the opportunity they had created to get to Hermione and move her into one of the stalls so it wouldn’t see her. Merlin just shook his head a bit though because now the Troll roared and turned its attention to the three of them.

 

Harry was behind it getting ready to charge at the thing, if Merlin had to guess, and Draco and Ron hardly looked ready to fight with the thing either. Merlin took over then, before Harry could attack it he performed a spell, “Locomotor Mortis!”

 

The Troll’s legs locked together and it fell forward knocking into one of the sinks as it collapsed, knocking itself out and spraying water everywhere. The three boys in the room looked at him curiously, he was then thankful he chose to use a spell from later in the year and not a few years ahead, but then Hermione let out a frightened squeak and Harry and Ron rushed to her side. Draco looked at Merlin curiously.

 

No one had much time to say anything though because it was only a few seconds after they began to calm down when the door few open and they looked up to find McGonagall, Snape, and Quirrell entering the bathroom.

 

Merlin was so sickened having Quirrell’s magic anywhere near his that he barely noticed him sit down on a toilet whimpering, in fact he almost felt sick to his stomach with Quirrell this close. His magic was so black and putrid he wondered how no one else noticed.

 

Snape bent over the Troll and McGonagall looked at the five of them. “What on earth were you thinking? You’re lucky you weren’t killed. Why aren’t you in your dormitories?”

 

Snape gave Harry a piercing look before training his eyes on Merlin, who he seemed to deiced was probably at fault in some way.

 

“Please, Professor McGonagall – they were looking for me,” she was pulling herself on to her feet, “I went looking for the Troll because I – I thought I could deal with it on my own – you know, because I’ve read all about them.”

 

Ron’s jaw dropped in surprise but he wasn’t the only one surprised by trying to get them out of trouble. Draco’s eyes had narrowed as he watched Hermione speak. Merlin guessed that Draco had thought they were going to try to pin it on them so he was ready to do the same.

 

“They all showed up and saved me. I’d be dead now if they hadn’t come. Malfoy and Ron got it away from me, Harry protected me, then Myrddin locked its legs so it fell and knocked itself out. They didn’t have time to fetch anyone else. It was about to finish me off.”

 

Merlin was the only one who hid his surprise at the new story well, as the others barely managed to conceal their blatant shock.

 

Snape wasn’t letting it go easy though and asked, “And how did two members of my house mange to get involved?”

 

“When we were leaving we heard Harry and Ron talking about how Hermione took off and we knew that they would need help, and since there was no one around we decided to follow.” Merlin answered easily.

 

Draco looked at him but played along. “Weasley and Potter would have been killed on their rescue mission if we hadn’t shown up.” He said smugly.

 

Ron shot him a dirty look but really couldn’t argue with the validity of the statement.

 

McGonagall stared at them for a moment before speaking, “Well, in that case Miss Granger, you foolish girl, how could you think of tackling a mountain Troll on your own?” Hermione hung her head and McGonagall continued, “Five points will be taken from Gryffindor for this. I’m very disappointed in you. If you’re not hurt at all, you’d better get off to Gryffindor tower. Students are finishing the feast in their houses.”

 

Hermione left then and McGonagall turned her attention to the four left in the room.

 

“You were all very lucky. You each win your houses five points,” she smiled a bit, “And another five points for each house for inter-house cooperation. Dumbledore will be informed of this. You may go,” but as they were leaving her voice stopped them on last time, “And Mr. Ambrosius, good spell work.”

 

Merlin nodded his head and the four of them continued out of the girl’s bathroom.

 

When they finally reached the staircase and were to split up Harry turned to them. “Thanks for coming Myrddin, Malfoy.”

 

Draco sneered a bit, “I should of let it eat you all.”

 

“Too bad it’s a bit late for that.” Ron grumbled crossing his arms.

 

Draco shrugged, “Maybe we’ll get lucky and you’ll get yourselves killed by something else.”

 

“Why did you even bother following us then?” Harry asked, frowning.

 

Draco didn’t answer but shot Merlin a dirty look, “I don’t know.” Then headed down the stairs and to their common room.

 

Merlin just smiled at Harry and Ron though and said, “Glad we could be of assistance.” Before hurrying to catch up to Draco.

 

As he headed down the stairs he heard Ron refer to him as a weirdo but just smiled a bit wider at that. He had always been a bit strange.

 

When he caught up to Draco he was asked, “Why did we have to help them?” though Draco never turned to look at him.

 

“It was the right thing to do, Gryffindor or not.” Merlin answered with a shrug, “I told you none of that stuff really matters to me and they were in trouble.”

 

Draco stopped then and turned to look at him, “There’s something off about you. You shouldn’t have known that spell unless you’ve studied at your home, and there was no reason to think that they would have needed our help.”

 

Merlin just shrugged again and started walking. When Draco caught back up with him Merlin smiled and said, “Maybe one day I’ll tell you how strange I really am.”

 

Draco snorted and the conversation was dropped.

 

When they arrived back at the Slytherin common room Draco told everyone all about how they had to rescue the three useless Gryffindor students from the rampaging Mountain Troll.


	10. Quidditch

Things settled down soon after the Troll incident. To Merlin’s immense relief, and surprise, Draco had seemed to decide that harassing other students, especially those in Gryffindor, while Merlin was around wasn’t worth it.

 

It also helped that they hadn’t been running into Harry very often. Merlin trusted Draco to decide not to harass students on his own, with only a slight push in the right direction, but he knew Draco wouldn’t drop his feud with Harry easily.

 

Merlin was doing well with the assigned homework, unsurprisingly, and he helped Draco from time to time as well. Merlin was also becoming more and more worried about what Voldemort was planning, as he didn’t wish to endanger the kids at the school. His only comfort was he knew what at the moment Voldemort was trying to save himself and not revive Morgana.

 

Though he was not a natural seer as Morgana was Merlin knew his magic gave him visions once in a while if they were needed, but at the moment his magic was focused on Morgana so if anything were to change with her he was confident he would see it. He only wished his magic would focus on Voldemort half as much as her because he couldn’t seem to find him in the Crystal of Neahtid.

 

Merlin was also debating on if he should be speaking to either Dumbledore or Snape about the knowledge he had acquired over the years and with his crystal, but that would mean revealing himself and he _knew_ that telling them now would only be bad. He also considered just giving them some information but they would be curious as to how a first year got that information, and would probably not trust him anyway.

 

He still disliked Snape as well, though he didn’t distrust him. In fact he trusted Snape about as much as Dumbledore, if not more. That was mostly because he trusted Snape not to try to take control of the situation. Merlin feared if he told Dumbledore everything he would think that they could take on Morgana and get himself, and his people, involved in something they couldn’t handle.

 

Merlin knew where Snape’s loyalties were, but his past led him to lashing out at people, Harry in particular. The reason that Merlin had no sympathy for him was probably because he knew what it was like to loose the woman you love, and he had lost his love to a leader as well. The main difference was his leader was also his friend and he had never held her death against him and Arthur had never realized what he had done. Merlin never had the heart to tell him.

 

If Snape could only see that he wasn’t the only one who had been dealt a bad hand, and that some people had gone through more pain than him, Merlin thought that he would be a much better person. As it was he still harassed Harry in class from time to time, and if it annoyed him enough Merlin would throw in a sarcastic comment to divert his attention.

 

Sometimes he wanted to explain everything to Snape just to make him understand the world a bit better than he thought it was and it could always be worse, but it wasn’t time for anyone to know yet. It also didn’t help that Snape’s attitude had been made worse by the huge bite on his leg from the Cerberus, Fluffy, helping to guard the stone.

 

Merlin could also see a time approaching quickly where the philosopher’s stone would be in danger but he couldn’t do too much or he would risk throwing off the future. The outcome he was seeing through the crystal at the moment, while not perfect, was okay. Merlin was already beginning to plan alterations without throwing the outcome off too much.

 

Still, Merlin knew what he was seeing didn’t include Morgana because while she was dead anything she would influence by coming back was blurred, becoming clearer only as the time of her resurrection drew nearer. It also didn’t include him because he didn’t decide to act until after he saw the visions. Merlin was glad he had learned how to have no intentions while looking into the crystal or it would be like in the past where he saw the outcome if he interfered when he thought he was seeing what the outcome would be if he didn’t.

 

Merlin also spent time watching Harry, Hermione, and Ron through the crystal focusing more on the present than the future. He wanted to make sure that he had at least some idea of what they were doing and if they would need back up, or help.

 

Of everyone at the school Fred and George were the ones who most helped him relax even though they probably didn’t realize it. He really appreciated them. They reminded of himself and Gwaine during the time of Camelot, because they weren’t living up to their full potential but instead they used that potential for games and pranks.

 

Fred, George, and Lee had also accepted him into their group recently. He didn’t get to spend as much time with them as he would like but they did make his life a bit more relaxing. They had accepted him because he had done his own prank last week as they had asked.

 

He had gone into the kitchens and while he was there he dropped a bit of potion into the pumpkin juice going to the Ravenclaw table. It made it so that those who drank the potion were unable to speak for 24 hours, it was made even better by the fact that it was on a day where Slytherin had classes with them. They were much less annoying when they couldn’t speak.

 

The teachers couldn’t figure out who had done it because it had to have been put in while it was at the kitchens and the house-elves were pleading ignorant. Merlin had smiled a bit at that because he knew they wouldn’t betray him. Fred, George, and Lee had bugged him for weeks about why they had not only allowed him to put something into the food but didn’t rat him out for it. Eventually Merlin just claimed to be sneaky because he didn’t want to get the house-elves in trouble or give himself away.

 

Right now it was the day before the big Quidditch match, the first of the season, Gryffindor versus Slytherin.

 

His classes had been rather dull and none of the other students were paying much attention either, unless they were in Ravenclaw, because everyone was waiting for tomorrow’s game. The rumor going around, which had been confirmed, was that Harry would be playing seeker for Gryffindor. Draco hadn’t stopped complaining since he heard about it. If fact that’s what Draco was doing, yet again, while Merlin ate his lunch nodding at regular intervals so that Draco would know he was listening.

 

“How could they let Potter on a Quidditch team? Even if it is Gryffindor.” Draco complained.

 

Zabini let out a chuckle under his breath, “Better for us then, he’s been living with muggles so he probably doesn’t even know the rules.”

 

Goyle and Crabbe nodded in agreement with Zabini’s statement.

 

Draco slammed his hand down on the table hard and leaned over at the three sitting across from him. Merlin glanced over at Draco, sitting to the right of him, curiously. “That’s not the bloody point!” Draco argued, “If they were going to be accepting first years they should have allowed me to join as well!” Draco opened his mouth to speak again but then closed it again quickly. Merlin could hear his teeth clench together.

 

Merlin tried to hold back his smile. He knew what Draco had been about to say and was surprised that he hadn’t, but he was also proud. ‘My father will hear about this’ didn’t cross his lips.

 

“Yeah, of course, you’re right.” Zabini agreed quickly and quietly, trying not to attract any more attention to himself.

 

Draco stood then, “I’m done eating. I will see you all in class.”

 

He stormed out then and Merlin sighed before following him out. When they were out of the Great Hall and heading outside Merlin spoke, startling Draco who had yet to realize that he was being followed, “Slow down Draco, I’m not going to chase you.”

 

Draco spun around then to face Merlin. “Did I ask you to follow me Myrddin?”

 

Merlin shook his head, “No, but I was done eating,” Merlin shrugged, “Though if you want me to leave then I will.”

 

Draco frowned and then turned away from him but didn’t start to walk again. Merlin took this as an okay and caught up to him so they could continue the walk together. Neither spoke until they stood far away from anyone else. It was pretty cold but both did a fairly good job of ignoring it.

 

“You already knew about Potter didn’t you Myrddin?” Draco questioned as he turned to face Merlin.

 

Merlin shrugged. “I might have heard about it earlier.”

 

“When?”

 

“Around the time that he received the broom.” It was actually earlier but he wasn’t going to admit that because then he wouldn’t have an excuse for how he found out.

 

“And why didn’t you mention this sooner?” Draco asked stubbornly.

 

“Didn’t think it mattered much.” Merlin answered with a shrug.

 

“Didn’t think it…Didn’t think it mattered much!?” Draco was outraged.

 

“Yeah, besides there was nothing we could do about it anyway.”

 

Draco looked like he was about to argue but then, at the last second, he sighed instead before mumbling about fighting it and getting on the team. After Draco’s mumbling and complaining came to an end they both went quiet and the subject was dropped in favor of another.

 

“Are you ever going to tell me what you are sneaking out of the dorm for?”

 

Merlin shook his head; they had been having this argument since Draco found out that he had been sneaking out regularly. He didn’t do it every day anymore but, maybe, once a week to check on the unicorns and speak to the things living in the forest. The unicorns were being injured regularly (with the exception of the first Unicorn that had been attacked) he had managed to save them before they died. It was a frightening thought, that someone could be so evil and cruel.

 

“Of course I’ll tell you eventually but now is not the time.”

 

Draco narrowed his eyes before turning away, “It’s almost time for class we’d better head back.”

 

Merlin followed him without a word.

 

At the moment the main reason he didn’t want to tell Draco about what he was doing was because he was sure that Draco would insist on going with him and he’d begun putting the pieces together and the picture didn’t look very good.

 

Merlin could only conclude that Voldemort was not just coming back but was near the school and had some how gotten his hands on a body even though that body wasn’t his. That would explain why he couldn’t find Voldemort in the crystal. If his soul was split, as he guessed it was because he could think of no other way that he would remain after dying, then the crystal would not be able to find a single piece of his soul.

 

He’d also decided that if his soul was at Hogwarts and that it was attached to someone it was probably attached to Quirrell. Knowing did not necessarily comfort him as he was pretty sure Voldemort was a teacher.

 

That was another reason why he felt hesitant to tell Draco anything too though and it was because, while he had been getting better, his father was a loyal follower of Voldemort’s and if Draco mentioned this to his father or mother he could be ordered to help Voldemort and Merlin couldn’t be sure that he wouldn’t obey.

 

“How do you think we’ll do in the Quidditch match tomorrow?” Merlin asked, as they got closer to the classroom.

 

“We’re going to win of course. Gryffindor won’t stand a chance with or without Potter,” Draco said smugly, and just like that the tension was gone and they were discussing tomorrow’s game.

 

Zabini, Crabbe, and Goyle met up with Merlin and Draco inside of the classroom and they too had been discussing the upcoming Quidditch match (again).

 

The lesson progressed slowly and by the time they headed to the dorm room Merlin felt like it was much later than it had in actuality, Merlin was exhausted.

 

It was because of that he headed up to bed earlier than the others.

 

The next morning he got up earlier than the others too. He waited in the common room reading one of the books he had only recently acquired. It was newer than most of his collection but still stood out too much because it was old and rare as well. He had disguised the book with a spell so it looked like a book from their History of Magic class.

 

After about an hour Merlin heard someone opening the door that lead to the boy’s dormitory, but Merlin didn’t look up until he heard the familiar voice say, “Are we heading down to the Great Hall for breakfast or what? I’m starving.”

 

Without looking up Merlin tucked the book into his bag and stood, “Sure Draco, lets head up then.”

 

Draco nodded and they headed to the Great Hall. They ran into a few people on the way but most just got out of their way. The Great Hall had more people than it usually did at this time, and most of those people were sitting at either the Slytherin or Gryffindor table. Merlin assumed it was because most were waiting in anticipation for the upcoming match and no one wanted to be late, but it was like that every year.

 

By eleven o’clock everyone was sitting in the stands, and by that Merlin meant everyone. It wasn’t just Slytherin and Gryffindor but Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw as well. There may have been a few people who chose not to attend, but if there was then it wasn’t enough to notice. Many of the students Merlin saw had binoculars and it came as no surprise because it wasn’t unusual. It helped that even though the seats were lifted as high as they were at times the game got to far away to see from them.

 

Merlin, Draco, and the other Slytherins sat opposite of the Gryffindors and the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students were spread out depending on which team they were rooting for.

 

With his own binoculars Merlin could see Ron, Hermione, Neville, Seamus, and Dean across from them. They had made a big banner in support of Harry with a lion that changed color on it.

 

The Slytherin and Gryffindor teams headed out and on to the field and everyone broke out into cheers.

 

Madam Hooch was refereeing, not to Merlin’s surprise, considering that the person who gives the first years their flying lessons are usually the ones to referee. She stood in the middle of the field waiting for the two teams, a broom in her hand.

 

“Now, I want a nice fair game, all of you,” she said, when they were all surrounding her. Merlin recognized that she was mostly speaking to the Captain of the Slytherin team, the sixth year Marcus Flint. “Mount your brooms, please.”

 

They all mounted their brooms and prepared for the game to start. Madam Hooch lifted her silver whistle to her lips and gave a loud blast.

 

All fifteen players, on their brooms, rose up in the air and took off.

 

The announcer, Fred and George’s friend Lee Jordan, said, “And the Quaffle is taken immediately by Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor – what an excellent Chaser that girl is, and rather attractive too –”

 

“JORDAN!” McGonagall scolded.

 

Draco, and the other Slytherin’s sneered at the blatant favoritism coming from their announcer.

 

“Sorry, Professor.” Lee said, not sounding too sorry about it.

 

“And she’s really belting along up there, a neat pass to Alicia Spinnet, a good find of Oliver Wood’s, last year only a reserve – back to Johnson and – no, the Slytherins have taken the Quaffle,” Draco smiled, “Slytherins Captain Marcus Flint gains the Quaffle and off he goes – Flint fling like an eagle up there – he’s going to sc— no, stopped by an excellent move by Gryffindor Keeper Wood,” Draco cursed under his breath, “And the Gryffindors take the Quaffle – that’s Chaser Katie Bell of Gryffindor there, nice dive around Flint, off up the field and – OUCH – that must have hurt, hit in the back of the head by a Bludger – Quaffle taken by the Slytherins – that’s Adrian Pucey speeding off toward the goal posts, but he’s blocked by a second Bludger – sent his way by Fred or George Weasley, can’t tell which – nice play by the Gryffindor Beater, anyway, and Johnson back in possession of the Quaffle, a clear field ahead and off she goes – she’s really flying – dodges a speeding Bludger – the goal posts are ahead – come on, now, Angelina – Keeper Bletchley dives – misses – GRYFFINDORS SCORE!”

 

The students in Gryffindor, or rooting for them, cheered loudly, covering up the Slytherin students’ groans of frustration.

 

“He clearly has a favorite team,” Draco mumbled next to Merlin with a tight frown and narrowed eyes. Merlin nodded, as he couldn’t help but to agree. “But,” Draco continued, “Slytherin still has a chance and they’d better not loose.”

 

Merlin took a glance at the Gryffindor stands and noticed that Hagrid had joined them, but besides that nothing interesting had happened. Merlin had suddenly gotten a bad feeling about today.

 

Merlin kept his eye on Harry at all times as he watched the game progress. He had yet to spot the Snitch and wished it would show up so the game could end.

 

Harry was almost taken out by a Bludger, but he dodged, and Fred, who had been chasing after it yelled something at Harry as he went by knocking the Bludger toward Flint.

 

Lee was now saying, “Slytherin in possession. Chaser Pucey ducks two Bludgers, two Weasleys, and Chaser Bell, and speeds toward the – wait a moment – was that the Snitch?”

 

The crowd began to murmur then as Adrian Pucey dropped the Quaffle, too buys looking over his shoulder at the flash of gold that had passed his left ear.

 

Merlin saw it, and noticed that Harry saw it too. The Slytherin Seeker Terence Higgs had seen it as well. The two seekers were flying at the Snitch, even with each other, and the Chasers had seemed to forget they were playing as they stopped in midair to watch.

 

Harry was faster than Higgs, and though Merlin liked the kid he did want his own team to win. He watched in anticipation as the Snitch darted ahead, but it should have still been in their line of sight.

 

A roar of rage came from the Gryffindor’s side of the stands as Marcus Flint blocked Harry and made Harry’s broom spin off course. The Gryffindors screamed, “Foul!”

 

The Slytherin’s were cheering. “That was no foul!” Draco called out loudly.

 

Lee was finding it more difficult not to take sides. “So – after that obvious and disgusting bit of cheating –”

 

“Jordan!” Professor McGonagall growled, annoyed.

 

“I mean, after that open and revolting foul –”

 

“ _Jordan, I’m warning you_ –”

 

“All right, all right. Flint nearly kills the Gryffindor Seeker, which could happen to anyone, I’m sure, so a penalty to Gryffindor, taken by Spinnet, who puts it away, no trouble, and we continue to play, Gryffindor still in possession.” Merlin could hear Lee’s sarcasm and he knew McGonagall could too but she chose to ignore it. Besides that was probably the best they could hope for Lee’s neutrality.

 

While they were screaming no one was paying attention to the seekers, Harry in particular. Harry’s broom, and Harry on it, started to fall, but it only lasted a second before it came back up. Merlin immediately knew that something was wrong. It was then that Merlin realized that Harry no longer had any control over the broom he was on.

 

Lee kept commenting though, and no one else really noticed, “Slytherin in possession – Flint with the Quaffle – passes Spinnet – passes Bell – hit hard in the face by a Bludger, hope it broke his nose – only joking, Professor – Slytherins score – oh no…”

 

Everyone is Slytherin was cheering. No one else seemed to have noticed that Harry’s broom was behaving strangely as it was jerking and twitching.

 

Then, suddenly, everyone had begun to notice Harry. The whispers grew throughout the stands. “He suddenly forgot how to fly or something?” Draco snorted.

 

Harry’s broom had started to roll over and over, with him barely hanging on, and then it jerked sharply and Harry seemed to fall off it. He was now barely hanging on to it as one hand had slipped from the broom.

 

Merlin glanced around to find out where the spell was coming from. First he spotted Snape who was staring unblinking at Harry’s broom, and if Merlin had to guess, was the only reason Harry was still hanging on to the broom at all, and then he found Quirrell, who was also staring unblinkingly at Harry’s broom. Merlin was watching a battle of wills that neither was winning.

 

Merlin whispered an old magic spell under his breath that placed a light shield over Harry and his broom. Neither noticed the inference, in fact neither had Harry, as he still couldn’t move his broom. The only difference was now the broom couldn’t move and neither spell caster could shake him off.

 

The Weasleys tried to get close enough to help him but between the two teacher’s curses and Merlin’s shield neither could get close enough. They moved below him and seemed to be preparing to catch him if he should happen to fall.

 

Flint had ignored the crisis and had taken the Quaffle and scored five times without anyone on the field noticing or trying to stop him.

 

Merlin took his attention off of Harry then, knowing that his spell (and the Weasley twins) would keep Harry from falling to his death. He now used his binoculars to once again spot Quirrell among the teachers. It was right as Merlin spotted Quirrell that he saw Hermione shove Quirrell out of the way and broke he concentration. Merlin smirked at the happy accident because now there was no need to interfere anymore. As he was releasing his hold on Harry he heard shouting coming from the stands where the teachers were seated. Snape’s cloak had caught fire and Merlin had to suppress his groan of annoyance. If this was anything to go by the trio must have decided that Snape was the enemy.

 

During the commotion Harry had managed to, finally, pull himself back up on to his broom and he began to fly. Draco huffed in disappointment because Harry hadn’t fallen from his broom.

 

Soon Harry was speeding toward the ground and a second later he had clapped his hand to his mouth as he fell off of his broom and on to the ground. It was a good thing his was already so close to it. Then he was on all fours coughing, it looked like he was to be sick, and he spit out something golden. The Snitch.

 

“I’ve got the Snitch!” Harry shouted, waving the gold ball above his head, and the game ended in complete confusion.

 

“He didn’t _catch_ it, he nearly _swallowed_ it,” Flint hollered.

 

Draco was echoing him in the stands, “What the hell was that!” he called.

 

Slytherin, in general, was very put out by the outcome of the first match, and a match against Gryffindor no less. To prove this Flint was still howling about how the Snitch was caught twenty minutes later, but he hadn’t made any difference as Harry’s catch broke no rules.

 

Lee Jordan was happily shouting the results and the Gryffindors were celebrating. The Slytherin students had begun to disperse, as they didn’t want to hang around for the celebration.

 

“Complete rubbish.” Draco stated, as they got closer to the entrance to the common room.

 

“I know,” Zabini agreed, “Catching it in his mouth like should be cheating.”

 

Crabbe and Goyle nodded stupidly grunting in approval.

 

As they reached the entrance to the common room, Draco said the password for the group so they could head in, “Dementor,” and as they headed inside Draco turned to Merlin and asked, “Well, what did you think of Potter’s catch Myrddin?”

 

“He could’ve done it more gracefully,” Merlin said with a smirk, “But I’d rather have had our seeker catch it instead.”

 

Draco huffed, “Me as well.”


	11. Before the Break

As Christmas got closer it got colder. Even Merlin’s Merlin, Adora, was having problems flying in the cold weather, so he put an old enchantment over it so it would not be disturbed by the icy weather. It also didn’t help that the Slytherin common room was in the dungeon, and even with the fires going it was still cold and they could usually see their breath.

 

Draco and the other Slytherin students who would be attending the Malfoy’s Christmas party spoke about it more often. Draco had begun telling Merlin what to expect and how he should be on his best behavior and _not_ mention his habit of standing up for Gryffindors, Mudbloods, and Blood-traitors.

 

It was during one of Snape’s potions classes, in the freezing dungeon classroom, that Zabini, who was angry and frustrated at Harry’s ever-increasing fame and Draco’s lack of a real reaction, looked at Harry and said quite loudly, “I do feel so sorry for all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they’re not wanted at home.”

 

Merlin frowned at the remark and looked away. Crabbe and Golye chuckled while Zabini smiled. Lately they had been spending more time with, following, Zabini instead of Draco.

 

Merlin was actually a bit proud of Draco because while he was certainly upset at the loss to Gryffindor he hadn’t pushed the matter too much outside of the common room. Zabini hadn’t been so graceful. He had spent a majority of his time making fun of Harry for how the catch had been made and only stopped that when he realized no one, outside of Crabbe and Goyle, had found his comments very funny. That was mostly because more people were impressed by Harry’s catch than not.

 

That was what had led Zabini back to making remarks about Harry’s family.

 

Merlin had become more annoyed with Zabini lately because of that and had been avoiding him more often. Draco had noticed and been separating himself from them as well and hanging out with Merlin more often. Merlin now spent most of his time with either Draco or the Weasley twins, but never at the same time because neither group was ready for that.

 

The rest of the class passed fairly uneventfully and Merlin was glad that Snape had not verbally harassed Harry that class, and had been doing so less often lately, though that could have been because his was more preoccupied with Quirrell and Voldemort lately.

 

When the four Slytherin students left Snape’s classroom together they found a large fir tree being held by Hagrid blocking the corridor. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were standing in front of the tree talking to Hagrid.

 

Zabini stepped in front of the group and toward the four blocking their way and said with a cold drawl, “Would you mind moving out of the way?” Then he zoned in on Ron and Draco shot a look Merlin’s way wanting to know what he was going to do about it, “Are you trying to earn some extra money, Weasley? Hoping to be gamekeeper yourself when you leave Hogwarts, I suppose – that hut of Hagrid’s must seem like a palace compared to what your family’s used to.”

 

“Zabini,” Merlin said sharply before he could say much else.

 

Zabini turned to Merlin then gave him a look full of loathing and Merlin wasn’t surprised, as Zabini must have noticed his refusal to harass other students. “What Ambrosius? Are you going to stand up for your Blood-traitor friend? What would your parents think?”

 

“If my parents were alive,” Merlin said harshly, “I think they’d be rather glad I wasn’t being a bloody prat.”

 

Zabini’s smirk dropped at the first part but by the end he had resumed his could-care-less façade.

 

Draco glanced between the two of them, as if waiting for a fight to break out. The trio and Hagrid couldn’t really figure out what was going on. Hagrid, in particular, was confused, as he had not known that a few times before Merlin had helped them as well.

 

Zabini stared at Merlin and seemed to debate whether or not he should try to go after him, but after seeing that Draco was glaring at him, and not Merlin, decided to turn his attack back to its original target.

 

“Well Weasley, you going to upgrade to Hagrid’s hut? Even sharing it with an oaf like him should give you more room than anyone in your family is used to.”

 

Before Merlin could deflect Zabini’s attack Ron had enough and took a dive at him. It was unfortunate that Snape had chosen to climb up the stairs at that moment, “WEASLEY!”

 

Ron released Zabini at Snape’s yell and stepped back.

 

“He was provoked, Professor Snape,” Hagrid said in Ron’s defense, sticking his head out from behind the tree he was holding to see Snape, “Zabini was insultin’ his family.”

 

Snape looked at all the students coolly, “Be that as it may, fighting is against Hogwarts rules, Hagrid,” He paused for a second staring not at Ron but at Harry. “Five points from Gryffindor, Weasley, and be grateful it isn’t more. Move along, all of you.”

 

Zabini, Crabbe, and Goyle pushed roughly past the tree, scattering needles everywhere and smirking. Draco hung back with Merlin, and Merlin and Snape stared at each other. “Move along Mr. Ambrosius.” Snape said as his eyes narrowed further before moving forward, and past them.

 

“I’ll get him,” Ron said, grinding his teeth staring at Zabini, who hadn’t even looked back at Merlin or Draco, “One of these days, I’ll get him –”

 

Merlin wasn’t surprised, as Zabini had taken over picking on other student for Draco and was worse than Draco had ever been. “I hate them both,” Harry declared, “Zabini and Snape.”

 

It was then they seemed to notice Draco and Merlin were still standing in front of them. Hermione spoke to them first, “Thank you, for helping us, again.”

 

Merlin scratched the back of his head and looked away, even after all these years he still hadn’t gotten used to being praised, though it was probably due to the fact that he rarely took credit for his actions. “No problem.”

 

Instead of speaking to Merlin, Ron had turned and faced Draco instead, “No offense or anything Malfoy,” Ron said sarcastically, snorting after Draco’s last name, “But Zabini is much worse than you. I’d rather you were the one bugging us.”

 

Draco snorted, “He’s trying to _prove_ himself. I harass you for the utter pleasure of it Weasley, Potter, Granger.”

 

Merlin smirked then, because while Draco was insulting them at least he was speaking with them civilly. Draco noticed Merlin’s smirk though and said quickly as he turned away from the trio and toward Merlin, “Well, what are you smirking at Myrddin?” then he turned and slipped past Hagrid with the tree, “Lets head to the Great Hall already.”

 

Merlin’s smirk strained for a second at the familiar words, Arthur had said the a million times, before his face relaxed into a full blown smile, “Sure, whatever you say Draco.”

 

He waved at the trio as he passed and noticed that Hagrid’s confused look had only gotten worse during the conversation. “What was _that_ about?” Hagrid asked as Merlin and Draco got farther away.

 

Merlin couldn’t hear what else was said but silently prayed to the old religion that they would manage to stay out of trouble during the break, not that he had much hope of that happening.

 

When they reached the Slytherin table Draco gave him a strange look and Merlin looked back at him, “What is it?”

 

“I was expecting you to punch him,” Draco said rather calmly, “And I’m rather annoyed that you’ve some how made it seem that I like _Gryffindors_ , _Mudbloods,_ and _Blood-traitors,_ ” Draco finished with disgust.

 

Merlin just smiled at him though, “Don’t worry Draco, I’m sure they still hate you too.”

 

Draco huffed in annoyance but didn’t say anything back and instead began to eat.

 

As they got up to go back to the common room to pack Draco asked, without looking at Merlin, “By the way, if you’re going to be alone for the holidays, my parents said it would be fine if you stayed with us the entire time.”

 

“Sure,” Merlin said with a shrug. He knew Draco’s family had only offered because of his connections but it would be better than being alone, and this way he could make sure Draco’s parents didn’t ruin all of his hard work. “One of my house-elves will be at the station waiting for me. I’ll bring him along so if I need anything from my house I can send him to fetch it.”

 

Draco nodded. “My parents will be pleased.”


	12. Christmas

The train finally reached the station and Draco, sitting across from Merlin, stood up and gestured for Merlin to follow him, and Merlin did so without question.

 

As they got off the train they found Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy waiting for Draco and himself. Not to far from them was a house-elf, one of his older ones who had been with him long enough to know the protocol around outsiders, Reblin.

 

When Merlin stood in front of the Malfoys, with Draco, Merlin nodded his head as a light bow and said, “It’s a pleasure to meet Draco’s parents. I’ve heard wonderful things about your family.”

 

Lucius was looking at him critically but Narcissa smiled back at Merlin, “A pleasure to meet you as well. We’ve heard of your family but we’ve never met them.”

 

Merlin nodded, “They are quite reclusive, but some of them spend their days traveling as my Aunt does,” Merlin turned to Lucius then, “But my father did mention meeting you, Mr. Malfoy, after my mother passed.”

 

“Yes,” Lucius said with a nod, “I did have the pleasure of meeting your father once. It was too bad he couldn’t attend our Christmas party that year.”

 

“It was,” Merlin agreed easily hiding himself the way he would at Camelot, “Thank you for allowing me to stay with your family during the break as well as go to your Christmas party.”

 

Draco was giving Merlin a curious look from the corner of his eye but seemed to choose not to say anything considering that his parents seemed to like his new friend.

 

“It’s no problem at all.” Narcissa said with a smile and Lucius hummed in agreement.

 

“Reblin,” Merlin said looking over at his house-elf, causing him to approach. Then Merlin turned back to the Malfoys and said, “And, as to not cause you any trouble I thought that I should bring along one of our families house-elves, if that alright with you, Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy.”

 

Lucius nodded. “That is quite alright.”

 

“Shall we be going then?” Draco asked seeing as the conversation had reached its end.

 

“Yes, yes,” said Narcissa, “We should be. There is still so much to do before the party and we need to get Mr. Ambrosius here settled in.”

 

Merlin smiled, “You may, of course, call me Myrddin if you like.”

 

“Myrddin,” Narcissa tried out, “What a lovely name,” she smiled, “Now hurry along Draco, Myrddin, we’re running behind schedule.”

 

Narcissa asked if Merlin would like to apparate with their family, but he said that he would be okay because things like that were why he had brought Reblin, and all he asked for was the location of their house. After they had all that figured out Lucius, Narcissa, and Draco apparated together, and Reblin apparated for Merlin following the Malfoys back to their house.

 

Merlin could have apparated himself, or used one of the old magic spells for travel, but it would have been much to suspicious partly because he was supposed to have the trace on him and partly because he shouldn’t know magic that advanced as a first year. He hated that he couldn’t use magic freely, but at the same time living like that was one of the few ways he felt comfortable because it was the way he’d lived for so long.

 

When they arrived in front of the house Merlin took a second to appreciate it. It was magnificent. The Malfoy Manor was nothing to scoff at. His own home was just a bit smaller than the Malfoy’s place and was built to be a miniature replica of Camelot. Though the only reason he even had a place as big as that was to keep up appearances.

 

Draco looked back at Merlin when the entered the house then slowed his pace so his parents got further a head and he became even with Merlin.

 

“So, what do you think?”

 

Merlin smiled, “Of your parents or the house?”

 

Draco looked away from him for a second then back at him, “Both.”

 

Merlin nodded. “Your parents seem nice and your house is magnificent.”

 

Draco looked at him curiously, “Isn’t yours as well though?”

 

With a shrug Merlin replied, “It’s not quite as big as yours, and it’s a bit more empty as well.”

 

Merlin had three house-elves that had chosen to stay with him as well as his Merlin and an owl. There were other house-elves that came and went as they please along with other creatures of magic. His house was their safe-haven, but he didn’t get visitors as often as he used to, so he was mostly alone.

 

Before the founding of Hogwarts instead of having Adora he had a phoenix that he gave to Godric Gryffindor as a companion when he went in search of Salazar. That was why he had given Adora immortality, to have a permanent companion as Fawks always did as he pleased and one could not have a phoenix running errands and still remain inconspicuous.

 

Fawks had traveled and lived with him for a while but Merlin could tell he was becoming bored so when Merlin got a vision of Dumbledore and saw the need he would have for Fawks Merlin asked the phoenix if he would like to go to the Hogwarts professor. It was then that the phoenix befriended its third person.

 

Draco frowned. “Does your aunt travel that often? Doesn’t your family come and visit you?”

 

Merlin chuckled. “She does, and like I told your parents my family is very reclusive.”

 

Draco made a face and though it looked like he wanted to say more he dropped the subject. “I’ll take you to the room you will be staying in and Dobby,” here he gestured to a house-elf who had approached while they were talking and was now standing next to Reblin, “Will show your house-elf to where it will be staying.”

 

“That will be fine,” then Merlin turned to Reblin then and said, “Please go with Dobby. I will call you if I need anything and if I don’t then could you help the Malfoys out with anything them might need.”

 

“Of course Master Ambrosius.” Reblin answered with a bow before following Dobby out of the room.

 

Merlin turned to face Draco again and found that he was, once again, wearing and confused expression. It took Merlin a moment to realize that it was probably because of how Reblin sounded more articulate than most house-elves. Instead of saying anything about it though Draco just ignored it and lead Merlin up to the room he was to be staying in.

 

The day of the party arrived soon than he thought it would.

 

Him and Draco had spent a majority of their days staying out of Draco’s parents’ way. That meant they spent a lot of their time in visiting family friends of the Malfoy family. They also had Reblin bring them to Diagon Alley and other places where they could find things to do.

 

Now that the day of the party had arrived the house had gotten more chaotic, if anything. Narcissa was rushing around the house making sure everything was put together nicely. She was also spending a lot of her time screaming at their house-elves.

 

The moment people started showing up Lucius sat with the guests in the living room, Narcissa hung around by the door so she could welcome their guests in, and Draco and Merlin hung out in the back room where all those still in school stayed at, as to not disturb the adults.

 

Merlin wasn’t surprised that most students in the Slytherin house from good families were at the party and he was only slightly surprised when he noticed the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, was also in attendance.

 

“So, how do you like staying at the Malfoy place?” Zabini asked once most of the children had arrived.

 

Merlin smiled, hiding his dislike for the kid, “It’s been great.”

 

Pansy Parkinson, a girl that seemed as bad, if not worse, than Zabini and encouraged other Slytherin students to show their superiority said, “Of course Draco’s house would be perfect. The Malfoy family is a well-know pureblood family.” Draco seemed to look at Merlin from the corner of his eye at that, because he knew from experience how much Merlin hated those titles, but Pansy didn’t seem to notice and continued to talk, “But of course, I assume your place would be just as nice considering you come from the Ambrosius family.”

 

She focused her full attention on Merlin then, clearly expecting an answer. Merlin didn’t let her down, as he knew a few adults were lingering outside the door and probably listening. He didn’t need to be creating enemies, the ones he had already were enough.

 

“My place isn’t quite as large as the Malfoy estate, but even if it was it has been quite lonely there since my parents passed. My aunt doesn’t visit very often. That was why the Malfoys were kind enough to offer me a guest room for the holidays.”

 

“Yes, yes,” Pansy said dismissively when she realized she wasn’t getting any truly new information and changed the subject, “The Malfoy Christmas party is the most talked about gathering of the year. You’re lucky to be a part of it Myrddin.”

 

Merlin just nodded at her and saw Draco roll his eyes next to him.

 

“So, uh, Draco,” Crabbe started, “What are your parents gettin you for Christmas this year?”

 

Goyle nodded his head energetically next to Crabbe.

 

Draco huffed, “Fine, fine,” he said, “It isn’t Christmas yet though, party or not, so I can only tell you what I’ve asked for,” Draco began, and then he smirked, “I’ve asked father for a new broom and have suggested that next school year he provide new brooms to the entire Slytherin team ask well,” Merlin wanted to sigh at that but decided if he did end up talking to Draco about that choice it would be alone so he wouldn’t get so defensive, “Besides that, though, I’ll have to just wait until Christmas.”

 

Merlin caught the jealous look that Zabini threw at Draco, but he was pretty sure he was the only one as the rest of the students in the room were already talking about how jealous the other houses, mostly Gryffindor, would be.

 

It was during that conversation when Lucius came in with Fudge following him. “Sorry to interrupt you kids’ conversation,” Fudge said with a smile.

 

Lucius nodded but didn’t look too sorry about it. “Myrddin, Fudge here heard you were from the Ambrosius family and wanted to know if he could speak with you.”

 

Merlin stood from the black leather couch he was sitting on and answered, “Of course.”

 

Fudge nodded, “Good, good. I’m glad to speak to you. The ministry has had correspondence with your family since the beginning,” Merlin remembered most of those and had slowed their contact when they had decided to enact the Statute of Secrecy, not that he still didn’t help, but not as much, “They’ve given us advice and money. The only thing I regret is that I’ve yet to meet them face to face. Even my predecessor’s predecessor hadn’t met the family head, but only ever wrote to him.”

 

Since there conversation was being held at the doorway, and loud enough for everyone to hear since neither he, nor the Minister, was whispering Merlin could just imagine the looks he was getting. Because his family has had the reputation of reclusiveness no one in the wizarding world seemed to realize exactly how much they, read he, did.

 

“Yes,” Merlin agreed, “Over the years my family has only gotten more and more reclusive. I did hear that they still maintain their correspondences.”

 

“They do, they do,” Fudge agreed, “I only wanted to know if it would be possible to meet the head of the family.”

 

Merlin frowned. He was usually the one who played head of the family when someone needed to meet in person, mostly because there was no one else, but being eleven he couldn’t exactly attend meetings as himself, and transforming himself always ran a risk because even he couldn’t be in two places at once and he would be in trouble in someone asked to see the other him at the same time.

 

He hadn’t quite made up a story for this situation but he’d have to trust his instincts. “Well my father was the head of the family so when he passed away his position was transferred to me, but since I’m still to young my aunt Jasmine temporarily runs things.”

 

Both Lucius and Fudge lit up at that fact.

 

Lucius was the first to speak, “Myrddin, you didn’t tell me you were the families head.”

 

Merlin shrugged, noticing that this was the first time that Lucius had addressed him as an equal, “I’m not officially in charge yet so I don’t see the point of telling everyone.”

 

Lucius nodded, “Of course, of course. Have you already been trained to take over the family or are you still learning.”

 

Merlin was glad that Lucius was treating him as if he was already the head even though he said it was his aunt, but it was probably because now Lucius knew his aunt was only the temporary head and he’d rather be in the good graces of the real head. Merlin could only hope that Fudge would feel the same way.

 

“I’ve been taught just about everything I need but before I take over they want to make sure I’m proficient at magic.”

 

Lucius nodded in approval and Fudge spoke before Lucius could respond, “Well then my boy, when do you expect you will be given control.”

 

“It will depend. If I do well at Hogwarts instead of waiting until 17 they might give me control at 15.”

 

Fudge was more enthusiastic than before then, smiling and nodded, “Good, good my boy. Well, then we’ll have to have a meeting at the ministry some time in the future.”

 

Merlin nodded as both Lucius and Fudge left him to get back to the kids’ room. He was lucky they had acted as he hoped they would. It was when Merlin turned back to the room he noticed all the other conversations had stopped and that they were all looking at him.

 

Draco gave him a look that clearly said ‘we _will_ talk about this later’ then asked, “Will any of you be doing anything interesting during the rest of our break?” changing the subject.

 

For a second the others seemed reluctant to change the subject but then Pansy started to explain her plans, eager to impress Draco, and the others joined in soon as well. Draco’s question had not started a conversation but a competition, but maybe that was for the best as the moment they all started trying to talk over each other they forgot about Merlin.

 

Well, all but Draco had forgotten about Merlin, and the only reason he was sure Draco hadn’t was because, while it seemed he was listening to the argument and acting as a mediator, he shot glances at Merlin every once in a while.

 

As it was Merlin was happy when the party ended and he helped say good-bye to the guests. Draco hadn’t asked him anything while his parents were around, but before they had a chance to be alone Reblin appeared before him and bowed. Lucius and Narcissa stopped what they were doing to watch the house-elf and Draco, who had been standing next to Merlin, looked at Merlin to see what was happening.

 

“I apologize for disturbing you Master Ambrosius.”

 

“It’s fine,” Merlin said looking at him curiously, “I assume you have a reason though.”

 

“Of course Master Ambrosius. Mistress Jasmine is on her way back to the house and asked that you be there when she arrives.”

 

Merlin’s frowned deepened. Jasmine asking to meet him was a code that they had come up with in case he needed to go back to the house immediately. Something must have happened or changed while he was away.

 

“I understand,” Merlin said seriously, his mind a million miles away, “Go pack for me, then apparate us back to the house.”

 

A crack followed Merlin’s command and Reblin was gone, probably already packing for him.

 

Merlin then turned back to the Malfoys then and Draco moved to stand by his mom, and face Merlin. “I apologize for my abrupt departure but I didn’t believe that my aunt would be coming back from her trip so early. I hope you don’t take offense.”

 

“Nonsense,” Narcissa said stepping toward him and placing a hand on his shoulder, “We are glad you were able to stay as long as you could. Tell your aunt we said hello and that we were glad to have you here.”

 

Merlin nodded, “Thank you for your hospitality.”

 

“You are welcome to come back and visit.” Lucius added, though Merlin knew that the man liked him more than ever now since discovering he was to become the family’s head.

 

Merlin thanked him as well for his kind offer and then turned to Draco. “See you back at school then.” Was all that Draco said but Merlin could see his eyes that the next time he saw Draco the boy would have a lot of questions for him.

 

Merlin just smirked, “Okay, I’ll see you then.”

 

Reblin chose then to appear next to Merlin with another loud crack. “All your stuff is here and packed Master Ambrosius.” Reblin said moving his free hand to gesture to Merlin’s bag.

 

Merlin nodded, “Thank you again Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy. See you after break Draco.” Merlin said as him put a hand on Reblin’s shoulder and gave him the go ahead to apparate.

 

Merlin hoped nothing too bad had happened.


	13. Welcome Back

When the new term started Merlin was a bit more worried about Harry than he usually was. Merlin had seen that Harry had spent a few days of Christmas break looking into the Mirror of Erised.

 

Seeing what your heart most desired and knowing it to be an impossibly could drive any person mad, but Harry was already in a difficult position and that mirror would be torture. It was torture to Merlin.

 

After settling what he’d been called back to settle Merlin had found he had a lot of time on his hands, but it ended up allowing him to keep a better eye on Harry and his friends. They had been looking for something on Nicholas Flamel and it seemed as if they had yet to find anything.

 

Draco had yet to ask Merlin about what had happened after he got home, but Merlin didn’t couldn’t see that lasting for much longer and expected to be ambushed at anytime. It was because of that Merlin was glad that he had already come up with a story to tell Draco about what had happened.

 

He wouldn’t tell Draco what really happened and he could only hope that his guest wouldn’t say anything about whom he visited as well. Merlin was a bit worried that his visitor would mention the visit to Dumbledore, seeing as he guest, Nicholas Flamel, was a good friend of Dumbledore’s.

 

Merlin had sent a message to Flamel a few months before school started warning him that he was sure someone was going to try to steal the philosopher’s stone. Flamel had sent a brief message in reply saying thanks and that he had moved it to a more secure location.

 

When the vault at Gringotts had been broken into a short while later Merlin knew Flamel was glad that he had listened even though he didn’t receive another message from him. Merlin and Flamel spoke rarely and even though Merlin had told Flamel about his immortality, and had even helped him create the philosopher’s stone. Flamel didn’t know who he really was though.

 

The reason Flamel had decided to visit Merlin’s home was to inform him that at the end of the school year he was going to destroy the stone and before he died he wanted to talk with him about his immortality. They had decided to wait to have that conversation until the end of the year, and also at a time where his wife could attend. They had also discussed if Merlin thought the stone would be safe until then. Merlin had said yes because things had already been put in motion and if Voldemort disappeared before anyone confirmed he was back then no one would be prepared for the next attack. Besides Merlin would keep the stone safe himself if he had to.

 

The beginning of the term had also meant that the Quidditch teams had started training. Most of the teams trained hard but after their first game, where they lost, the Slytherin team was doing everything they could, not just to train but also to ruin the other team’s training. That’s why when Flint found out the Snape was going to be refereeing the game between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff he rushed into the common room laughing.

 

While no one in Slytherin liked Hufflepuff they would rather they win in a match with Gryffindor. Meanwhile Zabini’s attitude had been getting worse because Draco hadn’t been speaking with him as often. It was because of the fear of being ignored that Zabini had been following Draco around, and that was why Merlin and Draco hadn’t had time to speak about why he left.

 

Draco, Merlin, and Zabini were beginning to spend time in the library. Merlin liked reading some of the history books, mostly the ones that were wrong because he found them amusing. Draco, after seeing Merlin take down the Troll, had decided to study ahead and so he had been working on his spell work a lot. Zabini just hung around skimming books that Draco or Merlin set down.

 

As they were leaving the library, about a week before the Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff match, they ran into Neville, quite literally in Zabini’s case.

 

Neville and Zabini had not been paying attention and so it wasn’t really surprising when they ended up running into each other and both had been knocked to the ground. Draco and Merlin looked at each other, both rolling their eyes, as Zabini jumped up on to his feet seemingly outraged.

 

“What the hell was that Longbottom?” Zabini yelled as he looked down at the boy, “Watch where you’re going won’t you!”

 

Nervously the boy stuttered, “S-s-so-sorry-y,” as he slowly got up off the ground.

 

Draco looked ready to leave but Zabini wasn’t. Too bad they didn’t realize that until Zabini pulled out his wand and casted, “Locomotor Mortis,” at Neville.

 

“Expelliarmus!” Merlin called out at about the same time knocking Zabini’s wand out of his hand and protecting Neville.

 

Merlin acknowledged that maybe it was a good thing that he had become so paranoid, and kept a hand near his wand at all times. He didn’t want to be caught without it and be forced to use his other magic.

 

Zabini didn’t even look in the direction his wand flew and instead spun to face Merlin. “What was that about Ambrosius!?”

 

“You’re being cruel!”

 

“He shouldn’t have knocked into me!”

 

“You weren’t paying attention either.” Merlin said quieter, calming down, even though Zabini wasn’t.

 

“But I’m better than him! We’re better than him! We’re Slytherin! He should watch where he’s walking!” Zabini was getting progressively louder.

 

Draco took the opportunity to turn to Neville and say, “Get out of here while you can still walk.”

 

Draco turned back to the argument rolling his eyes as Neville stumbled over himself trying to get as far away from the three Slytherin students as fast as possible.

 

Merlin’s voice got lower and he said darkly, “There’s no one in this school who you’re better than, and if you opened your bloody eyes you’d know that. Don’t be such a prat.”

 

Zabini didn’t say anything, and for a second he and Merlin just stood in front of the door of the library staring at each other. The sound of footsteps coming down the hall pulled their eyes from each other and when they saw that person was a teacher the three of them scattered.

 

Draco and Merlin headed back to the common room and Zabini turned around to look for his wand.

 

When Draco and Merlin got back they both headed up to their room and as soon as the each sat down Draco said, “I’m not even going to say anything about that argument with Zabini. In fact I’m surprised that it didn’t happen sooner.” Merlin smirked remembering the last time he and Zabini had clashed and remembered Draco’s comment about how he was surprised Merlin hadn’t hit him, and it only just occurred to Merlin that Draco hadn’t been kidding. Draco continued, “What I want to know is what happened when you headed back to your house.”

 

“My aunt had been passing through and decided to drop by to give me a gift,” Merlin explained with a shrug, “She also wanted to know what I’d been up to and how school was going.”

 

Draco nodded, seeming to believe Merlin’s lie. “Oh, that reminds me,” Draco said, “You left before we could give you your gift from my family.”

 

“I didn’t get a chance to give you yours either.” Merlin agreed.

 

Draco’s present hadn’t been at the forefront of his mind once Reblin told him he had to rush back to his place. Merlin had been so worried he’d forgotten.

 

That said they each got up to grab the gifts from their bags. When they both sat back down they handed over the gifts in their hands.

 

Merlin took the rather large, and heavy, gift from Draco’s hand, and Draco took his much smaller and lighter gift from Merlin, but the gift Merlin gave Draco was too boxes instead of one.

 

Instead of waiting for Draco to ask Merlin beat him to the punch, “I’ve been sending letters to my aunt from time to time and in one of those I happened to mention that you were a friend of mine, so when she came into town she brought you a gift as well.”

 

Draco nodded, “My parents helped me pick out yours,” Draco explained as Merlin opened the gift to find an old book, “I told them I usually see you with a book, and was pretty sure you liked to read so they suggested this, since its rare and old.”

 

Merlin examined the book and saw it was a second edition called _Houses of Hogwarts_ about each of the houses and their founders. It looked to be more in depth than anything he’d seen about the founders, and he couldn’t wait to read it to see what facts had been gotten right and what was wrong. The book also served to remind Merlin that no matter how old he was that there were still things he’d never seen and stuff he didn’t know. That was a fact that Merlin took comfort in.

 

Merlin looked back at Draco then and said, “Thank you, I can’t wait to read it,” and as Draco looked down at his gifts Merlin explained, “The smaller one is from Aunt Jasmine and the bigger one is from me.”

 

Draco nodded then opened the smaller one first. Inside the small jewelry box as a long silver crystal (one Merlin got from the Crystal Cave) attached to a black cord. Sitting under the crystal was a piece of paper Merlin had written on in a lighter, more feminine, handwriting. It read:

 

_The Crystal of Protection;_

_From the mythical Crystal Cave_

_To warn you of enemies_

_And deflect a fatal blow_

_\--A_

 

Merlin had signed it with an A for Ambrosius instead of a J for Jasmine because he didn’t want to sign a lie. That way when, because Merlin was confident, Draco found out about him he would know that this gift was not a lie as well.

 

Draco’s brow furrowed, “Where did your aunt get something like this? I thought the Crystal Cave was just a story.”

 

Merlin shrugged, “She might have gotten it as a gift, but she might have found the cave for all I know. She’s traveled her entire life.”

 

Draco nodded before slipping the note in is pocket and the cord around his neck. After hiding the crystal under his shirt he opened the second gift. The second gift, Merlin had decided, didn’t need a note. Draco realized almost immediately what the gift was as the silvery fabric was easily spotted.

 

He had gotten Draco an invisibility cloak so that they would be able to travel easier on the adventures that Merlin could already foresee. Besides the trio had one so protecting them would be easier if they had one as well.

 

Merlin had considered getting one for the twins as well but that just seemed like a bad idea. Besides any planning like that would still have to wait until after Draco decided to get along with the Weasley twins.

 

“These are expensive.” Draco noted.

 

“So is the book you got me.” Merlin agreed.

 

They both thanked each other then and agreed that since it was pretty late and they didn’t want to argue with Zabini when he decided to come up to bed they would go to sleep a bit earlier than usual.

 

It was the next day, after their morning class, that Merlin told Draco he had something to do and left to find the twins. Only it ended them who found him instead of the other way around.

 

“Myrddin!” one called causing Merlin to spin around and face the twins.

 

“How’s it going?” the other asked throwing an arm over Merlin’s shoulders.

 

“Fred, we ask important questions first.”

 

“Right, right.”

 

“So have you pranked anyone lately?” Fred asked with a smirk.

 

“We heard you went to Malfoy’s party so we had to ask.”

 

“No,” Merlin answered with a shake of his head, “I didn’t prank anyone over the break, but I did get you guys a gift.”

 

“Ooooh,” they both said at the same time, stepping away from his sides and in front of him.

 

Merlin grabbed the gift from inside his bag and handed it to them. They gave him a curious look, as if expecting his next prank was their gift but after a second they decided to open it.

 

Their faces fell at the same time when they realized it was a book but lit back up when they read the title _Mischief Magic: The spells every jokester should know_.

 

“Excellent,” Fred and George said at the same time with equally frightening smirks.

 

Merlin stuffed his hands in his pockets and said, “Merry Christmas,” before turning around and heading back to the Great Hall for lunch. The twins were already and too caught up to do more than send a wave in his direction.

 

The rest of the week was fairly boring, and Merlin was glad for that because he knew the game would probably end up being more than enough excitement to make up for it, and if it wasn’t then Quirrell, who may or may not be Voldemort, trying to steal the philosopher’s stone would be.

 

The morning of the game started out clam enough, and that was mostly because in the past week they only ever ran into Zabini, Crabbe, and Goyle for minutes at a time and they never talked.

 

Merlin not surprised that when they did spot the three at the game they were standing in front of Hermione, Ron, and Neville.

 

The game had started just a minute ago but since him and Draco hadn’t been in a huge hurry to catch the beginning, just the results, they were arriving a bit late. As they entered the stands they saw one of the Weasley twins get penalized for hitting a Bludger at Snape and heard Zabini say, “You know how I think they choose people for the Gryffindor team? It’s people they feel sorry for. See, there’s Potter, who’s got no parents, then there’s the Weasleys, who’ve got no money – you should be on the team, Longbottom, you’ve got no brains.”

 

Merlin growled under his breath at the comment, and Draco, who seemed to hear it too, sighed in irritation. It seemed Draco realized that they were going to get involved whether he wanted to or not.

 

Neville went bright red but did turn and face Zabini stammering, “I’m worth twelve of you, Zabini.”

 

Both Draco and Merlin were surprised that he stood up for himself but Merlin was proud of Neville as well while Merlin was pretty sure that Draco’s other emotion was amusement.

 

Zabini laughed at Neville’s comeback and Crabbe and Goyle followed his lead, howling with laughter.

 

Ron didn’t look at the three students laughing but turned his attention to Neville and said, “You tell him, Neville.”

 

Zabini didn’t look offended by Neville’s retort though. “Longbottom,” Zabini said through his chuckles, “If brains were gold you’d be poorer than Weasley, and that’s saying something.”

 

Crabbe and Goyle, whose laughter and almost stopped, started snickering at Zabini’s new insult.

 

“I’m warning you, Zabini – one more word –”

 

“Ron!” Hermione said suddenly, stopping Merlin’s interruption, “Harry –!”

 

“What? Where?” Ron said spinning around in time to see Harry’s dive.

 

All those rooting for Gryffindor, or were worried about someone getting hurt stood, nervous.

 

Zabini took the opportunity to throw another insult at the Gryffindor students, “You’re in luck, Weasley, Potter’s obviously spotted some money on the ground!”

 

It seemed to Merlin that was the straw that broke the camel’s back because Ron seemed to snap, and before anyone, especially Zabini, realized what was happening Ron was wrestling Zabini to the floor, and after a moments hesitation Neville was climbing over his seat to help Ron out.

 

Hermione was too caught up in the match to do anything, as she was slowly moving farther and farther away from them. Crabbe and Goyle moved to step in but Neville had thrown himself at them. Merlin and Draco watched Zabini get beat up in amusement and neither stepped in, at least not for a bit.

 

Merlin saw Harry shoot past Snape to catch the Snitch out of the corner of his eye and Merlin took that as a sign to pull Ron and Neville off of Zabini, finally.

 

Ron turned to Merlin, who had pulled him off of Zabini and allowed him to escape, and then to Draco who was standing behind him and said, “Merlin’s saggy left…”

 

“Hey!” Merlin shouted, jumping in surprise.

 

Draco looked at Merlin, probably wondering why he had reacted that way, but Merlin could never get used to his name being used that way. It was uncomfortable.

 

“Why’d you interfere?” Ron asked stepping forward as Neville stepped behind him.

 

“Because the match is over and if a teacher happened to see you guys would have been the ones in trouble, not Zabini.”

 

Ron crossed his arms and frowned, “And why would you care if we got in trouble at all?”

 

“I don’t.” Draco scoffed.

 

Hermione interrupted them then by jumping up and down, grabbing onto Ron. “Ron, where were you? The game’s over! Harry’s won! We’ve won! Gryffindor is in the lead!”

 

Draco growled under his breath then, angry that Gryffindor had taken the lead, but then again Merlin was disappointed as well.

 

“Sorry Hermione.” Ron said still glaring at Merlin and Draco.

 

It was only then that she seemed to realize that she was missing something and had failed to notice the tension. “What’s going on?” she asked stepping back.

 

“Zabini was causing problems.” Neville said from behind Ron.

 

“And they,” Ron interrupted pointing and Draco and Merlin, “Interfered when I was doing something about it!”

 

“You don’t mean fighting?” Hermione asked horrified, lifting her hands to cover her mouth, “Ron you could get in trouble. You should thank them. What if a teacher had seen?”

 

“My worries exactly,” Merlin said with a smile, “We were passing by and we knew they were provoked but last time that didn’t exactly work as an excuse and we didn’t think this time would be much different.”

 

“You didn’t,” Draco pointed out, “I couldn’t have cared less.”

 

Merlin sighed at Draco while he rolled his eyes. “Fine, I didn’t want them to get in trouble.”

 

“You probably just wanted to save your friend,” Ron said, “After all you guys are all _Slytherin_ , and can’t be trusted.”

 

“Ron, You can be so blind some times! Myrddin has helped us loads of times before already!” Hermione said angrily, “And don’t you remember what Neville said? They helped him yesterday too,” she turned her attention back to them then and said, “Thank you for that, by the way.”

 

Merlin shrugged and said, “No problem,” at the same time that Draco said, “I didn’t do anything.”

 

After a moment of silence, that got awkward fairly quickly, Ron, Neville, and Hermione headed up to Gryffindor tower, and Draco and Merlin headed to the Slytherin common room.


	14. Hagrid's Dragon

In the following weeks nothing really changed. Merlin remembered that even at Camelot things would go quiet from time to time. There couldn’t always be danger and excitement.

 

The only thing that entertained Merlin at all recently was that Fred and George had decided that their Christmas present should not go to waste and had spent most of their time attempting to use each spell at least once.

 

All the fifth years in Slytherin had spent most of Tuesday with their hair bright red and Wednesday most of the Ravenclaw students had birds flying out of their mouth every time they tried to speak. Hufflepuff spent Thursday in fear, and that fear hadn’t been unfounded because at dinner, when they were just beginning to relax, their food had begun to attack them. Even their fellow Gryffindors had not been immune to the increase in pranks and Merlin only hoped no one ever figured out he was the one who had gifted the twins with the book they’d been using, full of new ideas.

 

The only big difference was that Neville, Hermione, and Harry spoke to Merlin in the hall, Draco too since they were always together but they didn’t go out of their way. Ron spoke to him when he was with the others too, but alone Ron wouldn’t start a conversation with Merlin because he was still suspicious. Draco, though not happy the trio spoke to them, didn’t outright insult them and when he did no one took it personally.

 

Hermione had even begun to ask them to study since the exams would be coming up. Draco turned them down because he didn’t want to be seen with them that much, or have his interactions with them get back to his dad, and Merlin turned her down since he wasn’t too worried. Besides that the exam was still ten weeks away.

 

Still, Merlin was beginning to get worried because it seemed to him, based on what he saw both in school and through the crystal, the trio, because they seemed to leave Neville out of most of their adventures, believed Snape to be the villain they were fighting against. Merlin hoped that because of that conclusion they wouldn’t do anything stupid, and he didn’t even bother trying to change their mind knowing how hopeless that would be. Even worse was there was no way anyone would believe that it was Quirrell who was out to steal the philosopher’s stone.

 

Merlin, as he thought of these things, decided he was probably going to head out to the Forbidden Forest for the first time that week. It was getting dark and they were on route to the Slytherin common room when Draco turned to look at him, “You haven’t been out late in a while?”

 

While technically what Draco had said was a statement he had phrased it like a question.

 

Merlin shrugged trying not to smile at the fact that Draco had addressed what he had just been thinking about, then said, “I was thinking about going out tonight.”

 

He had decided that now would probably be the best time to call Aithusa to tell him what had been going on if he didn’t already know. Kilgarah had a habit of knowing what was going on as long as the Old Religion was involved and so far Aithusa had proved to have the same talent.

 

Draco nodded. Merlin had to commend him for being able to hold back his questions. “Leave now and I’ll cover for you,” Draco said as he rolled his eyes before fixing Merlin with a stern glare, “And eventually I will expect an explanation.”

 

Merlin smirked before taking off in the opposite direction as they had been heading without an answer, but one was not really needed as he had already promised Draco an answer at some time in the future.

 

On his way out of the castle and passed Hagrid’s hut he caught sight of the trio being let inside. Merlin paused to consider heading over to them but decided against it, and just as he went to move farther away from the hut and into the forest his name was called, “Myrddin!”

 

Merlin jerked him head back to the direction of the hut where Hermione was standing in the doorway waving him over. Having no way to politely ignore her he approached and she invited him in.

 

“Guys look, it Myrddin,” she said with a smile, “I didn’t think you guys would mind him being here.”

 

Ron gave him a suspicious look, “What are you doing out of the castle this late?”

 

Merlin tilted his head in thought before answering, “Just thought I’d go for a walk. It feels like I’ve been trapped inside for so long I thought that a walk would be nice.”

 

Harry nodded, “Good to see you.”

 

Ron still didn’t look pleased but since Harry and Hermione seemed to trust him there was nothing that he could do so he just slouched into his chair at the table.

 

The hut was boiling hot inside and Hagrid looked at Merlin nervously but also chose not to say anything against Harry and Hermione’s opinion of him, and besides he had also seen Draco and Merlin act kindly to Gryffindors and was willing to give him a chance. Hagrid, Merlin noted, had a kind heart and was usually welcoming.

 

Hagrid did look nervous though, and seemed to want to hurry the conversation along so that they would leave, “So— yeh wanted to ask me sometin’?”

 

“Yes,” Harry answered back quickly, seeming to ignore the fact that Merlin had joined them, “We were wondering if you could tell us what’s guarding the Philosopher’s Stone apart from Fluffy.”

 

Merlin thought it best to play confused, “The Philosopher’s Stone? You mean the stone created by Nicholas Flamel for immortality? The one that turns lead into gold?” he asked.

 

The three other students in Hargid’s hut whirled around to face him instead of Hagrid. “You know about it?” Hermione asked curiously at the same time as Ron accusingly said, “Where did you hear about it?”

 

Merlin raised an eyebrow and put on his best-confused face, “My families library has information on a lot of artifacts and stuff. Last year I started reading through a lot of them since I didn’t know what to expect at Hogwarts.”

 

Ron threw up his arms in exasperation, “You mean all we had to bloody do was ask you!?”

 

Merlin shrugged, “So what’s Fluffy and where is it guarding the Stone?”

 

Harry answered him, “Fluffy is the giant three-headed dong on the third floor…”

 

“And the Stone is what’s under the trap door it’s guarding.” Hermione finished.

 

Hagrid frowned, “How’d yeh know ‘bout Fluffy too?”

 

“Myrddin was there when we stumbled on Fluffy,” Harry answered before going back to his original question, “So, what else is guarding the Stone?”

 

“I can’t tell yeh,” Hagrid gruffly replied, “Number one, I don’t know meself. Number two, yeh know too much already, so I wouldn’ tell yeh if I could. That Stone’s here fer a good reason. It was almost stolen outta Gringotts— I s’ppos yeh’ve worked that out an’ all? Beats me how yeh even found Fluffy.”

 

“Oh, come on, Hagrid, you might not want to tell us, but you _do_ know, you know everything that goes on round here,” Hermione said attempting to flatter him, and Merlin could admit that it was a good idea, and working if Hagrid’s smile was anything to go by. “We only wondered who had _done_ the guarding, really,” she went on, “We wondered who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you.”

 

Merlin had to smile at how thick she was laying it on. Hagrid didn’t seem to notice the smile that Harry and Ron shared as his chest swelled at those last few words.

 

“Well, I don’ s’pose it could hurt ter tell yeh that… let’s see… he borrowed Fluffy from me…” Merlin couldn’t help but smirk at the dog’s name, “Then some o’ the teachers did enchantments… Professor Sprout— Professor Flitwick— Professor McGonagall—,” he counted them off on his fingers, “Professor Quirrell—,” here Merlin’s eyes narrowed and he frowned, “an’ Dumbledore himself did somethin’, o’ course,” He forgot someone Merlin noticed, “Hang on, I’ve forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Professor Snape.”

 

Merlin signed in exasperation when Harry repeated “Snape?”” back to Hagrid loudly and horrified.

 

“Yeah— yer not still on abou’ that, are yeh?” by the looks of it they were, “Look, Snape helped _protect_ the Stone, he’s not about ter steal it.”

 

Merlin saw the trio exchange glances and knew right away nothing Hagrid said had any effect on them and so he decided that there would be no harm in trying to point them in the right direction and away from Snape, “What about Snape?”

 

“He tried to kill Harry!” Ron said, outraged.

 

“No, he didn’.” Hagrid sternly replied.

 

“What? When?” Merlin asked, “Someone would have heard about that.”

 

“Snape was the one who tried to knock Harry off his broom at the Quidditch game,” Hermione said, “He was jinxing it. Snape kept eye contact and wasn’t blinking, and after I set his robes on fire Harry’s broom was fine.”

 

Merlin blinked a few times, he’d forgotten that detail, “You set a teacher on fire?” he asked.

 

Hermione blushed and Ron laughed.

 

“That’s how we know it’s Snape.” Harry said after a few seconds.

 

“But couldn’t he have been trying to counter it?” Merlin asked curiously, “The symptoms of a jinx and a counter are the same and you must have knocked over a lot of people to get to Snape, not to mention the people distracted by the fire.”

 

“Of course you won’t believe us,” Ron said angrily, “You’re a bloody Slytherin too.”

 

Merlin frowned, “I’m not saying this because I’m Slytherin but because it makes sense to look at every side and you would think that if a teacher jinxed Harry’s broom he would’ve been knocked off much sooner.”

 

Hermione seemed to consider what Merlin was saying but the boys were completely unconvinced. Harry spoke again, arguing against Snape, “You remember the troll on Halloween?” he asked, continuing at Merlin’s nod, “Well Snape was bitten by Fluffy while the other teachers were looking for the troll. He was trying to find a way past Fluffy.”

 

Merlin put on a thoughtful expression and waited a few seconds before answering back, “But how did the troll get to the girl’s bathroom anyway? Quirrell, who is supposed to be the troll expert by the way, said it was in the dungeons just a few minutes earlier and trolls don’t move very fast.”

 

The boys still didn’t seem to think it could be anyone other than Snape but Hermione looked like she was really thinking about it. “You’re right,” Hermione answered eventually, “I didn’t even think about that.”

 

Ron snorted, “Quirrell couldn’t harm a fly if he wanted to. There’s no way he could get passed that bloody dog. I just think you’re trying to make Snape look innocent so he’ll get away with it.”

 

Merlin turned to him, offended, “Why would I do that? I was just trying to look at all the possibilities.”

 

“Maybe Snape bought you off; maybe he promised all of Slytherin a cut if he got away with it!”

 

Merlin could see that this wouldn’t be going anywhere but an argument and it seemed that Harry could see that to because he cut off whatever Merlin had been about to say, “You’re the only one who knows how to get past Fluffy, aren’t you Hagrid? You wouldn’t tell anyone would you? Not even one of the teachers?”

 

Merlin noticed Harry had said _one of the teachers_ instead of _Snape_ , but Merlin didn’t know if that was for Hagrid’s benefit of if Harry was really considering the possibility that it might not be Snape.

 

“Not a soul knows except me an’ Dumbledore,” Hagrid said proudly.

 

“Well, that’s something,” Harry muttered for everyone except Hagrid to hear, “Hagrid, can we have a window open? I’m boiling.”

 

At this point Merlin was too and he would have been surprised if the others weren’t as well.

 

“Can’t, Harry, sorry,” said Hagrid as he glanced at fire. Merlin and Harry followed his gaze.

 

“Hagrid— what’s _that_?”

 

In the very heart of the fire, underneath the kettle, was a huge black egg. Merlin wished he’d been watching Hagrid more closely now because he had no idea where the dragon egg had come from.

 

He was already making arrangements in his head to schedule another visit to Hagrid in the future in order to relieve him of his soon to be Dragon-Wyvern hybrid; most dragons at present were of a Dragon-Wyvern hybrid though, so the type wasn’t too rare. Merlin was planning on calling Athusia to him, as soon as he could get her to the castle in the first place, to give the dragon a heads up when he does remove Hagrid’s Wyvern (he couldn’t bring himself to call it a dragon even though he could command it) because he was thinking of asking her to care for it, as they were bigger, and had more brute strength than the old dragons even though they don’t live as long.

 

“Ah,” said Hagrid, fiddling nervously with his beard, “That’s— er…”

 

“Where did you get it, Hagrid?” Ron asked crouching over the fire to get a closer look at the egg. “It must’ve cost you a fortune.”

 

“Won it,” Hagrid answered, “Las’ night. I was down in the village havin’ a few drinks an’ got into a game o’ cards with a stranger. Think he was quite glad ter get rid of it, ter be honest.”

 

“But what are you going to do with it when it’s hatched?” asked Hermione curiously.

 

“Well, I’ve bin doin’ some readin’,” said Hagrid, pulling a large book from under his pillow. “Got this outta the library— _Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit_ — it’s a bit outta date, o’ course, but it’s all in here. Keep the egg in fire, ‘cause their mothers breathe on ‘em, see, an’ when it hatches, feed it on a bucket o’ brandy missed with chicken blood every half hour. An’ see here— how ter recognize diff’rent eggs— what I got there’s a Norwegian Ridgeback. They’re rare, them.”

 

He looked pleased, Hermione didn’t. “Hagrid, you live in a _wooden house_ ,” she argued.

 

Hagrid wasn’t listening though. He was humming merrily as he stroked the fire. The four of them shared a look then excused themselves back to the castle but Hagrid was hardly listening anymore.

 

When they were out of earshot Hermione was the first to break the silence, “He could get in so much trouble,” she said, “He’ll be hiding an _illegal_ dragon in his hut and soon it’ll be even _bigger_ that the hut.”

 

Ron sighed, “Wonder what it’s like to have a peaceful life,” as they trekked there way back to the castle.

 

Harry turned to look at Merlin, “You won’t say anything about this will you?”

 

The other two seemed to realize as well that Merlin didn’t have the same kind of loyalty to Hagrid as they did and looked at him.

 

Merlin shook his head, “No but tell me if you get an update I’d love to see a _dragon,”_ he internally shuddered at using that word to describe the hybrid, “And if you give me time I could come up with a way to help.”

 

Harry nodded and then Merlin broke away from the trio in order to head down to the Slytherin common room. He would have to tell Draco about this (and maybe the Dragonlord thing too if only to explain what he would be doing with the baby Wyvern once he gets it away from Hagrid).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone who had been watching this story or waiting for an update will have noticed the rapid fire chapter uploads. This was not because of super fast writing skill but because I had been really busy and posting these a the few free minutes I had and was only posting them on ffn. While that account will probably kept more up to date eventually every post made there for this story will come here as well.  
> Hope you guys like it so far :)


	15. First Reveal

Merlin didn't get a chance to speak with Malfoy that night or the day after because of school work and nosey people who had yet to decide if they would be following Zabini in tormenting the other houses or Draco in new non-confrontational ideology. Those who had chosen a side stayed in a group of their allies and avoided those who disagreed with them, and so the Slytherin house split in two, not that anyone outside of the house could tell. The prefect Ivan Flints seemed to silently support Draco over Zabini, which had saved them from a few detentions. The other prefects seemed to mostly agree though there were one or two who loudly supported Zabini.

The sixth year Quidditch captain, Marcus Flint, who was in no way related to Ivan despite their similar sounding names, was one of those who agreed with Zabini for no other reason than the joy he got from harassing others. Flint liking Zabini more would have been a problem for Draco, who was planning on becoming seeker next year, if not for his father's soon-to-be generous donation.

Pansy, while technically siding with Draco, was an awful girl who Merlin was sure enjoyed torturing others but wanted to marry Draco more than anything. She had begun to cling to him violently, which forced Merlin to muffle his laughter from time to time.

Daphne Greengrass, who could usually be found around Pansy, was mostly silent and seemed to wish to stay neutral in the separation entirely. Theodore Nott on the other had sided with Draco rather vocally and took to battling those who sided with Zabini, but Merlin wasn't sure if this was because Nott agreed with Draco or because his father ordered him to side with Draco.

Most of the other houses didn't seem to realize that Slytherin was just as effected by the politics and power of the real world, as it was by school feuds and childish behavior. Draco was winning this silent war because his own reputation and allies combined with his father's political and financial power.

It was on the third day after seeing the wyvern that Merlin managed to get Draco alone. Draco had gotten up earlier that usual and normally that meant he would immediately turn and go back to sleep but Merlin had stopped him with a quite word from where he was sitting by the window seal.

"Wait," was whispered hurriedly, "I need to tell you something."

Draco raised and eyebrow as if to say, ' _then speak'_ but Merlin just looked pointedly at the door.

He seemed to get the hint because Draco sighed dramatically before lifting himself out of bed and shooting Merlin a very pointed glare.

It took Draco his usual _forever_ to fix his hair and straighten out his robes, and when he was done they headed down to the common room, which was empty and allowed them to speak a bit more freely than usual.

"What is it that's so bloody important then Myrddin?" Draco asked as he sat on one side of the table where a wizard's chessboard sat.

Merlin took the other side and put the pieces in place, "You move first," Merlin said before answering, "When I took off and you covered for me I didn't do what I planned to and instead got roped into going to Hagrid's hut with Harry, Hermione, and Ron."

Draco raised an eyebrow as he leaned back after making his first move. When Merlin didn't say anything else right away Draco prompted him, "And what about this is a reason for a privet conversation so early?"

"Two things." Merlin answered as he moved a piece and smirked at Draco, "And both require silence on your part."

Draco nodded and Merlin believed he wouldn't say anything because if there was one thing you could trust about a Slytherin was that they could keep a secret when they wanted to. As long as telling would gain him nothing Draco wouldn't say a word.

Draco moved his next piece then said, "Continue."

So Merlin explained as the game continued, "First Hagrid has a _dragon_ egg in his hut."

Draco jumped a bit, "Is that oaf as bloody insane as he looks? Merlin! He's going to get us all killed."

Merlin gave an indulgent smile and ignored the insult choosing instead to answer, "It hasn't even hatched yet and I've got a plan to control the situation," Here Merlin's smile waned a bit, "But it would involve revealing one of my secrets which wouldn't be ideal so I'd like your help."

Draco looked curiously at Merlin and then, like a true Slytherin, asked "And what's in it for me? I'd have to keep Hagrid's dragon a secret, something I could use to get the oaf," Merlin shot him a glare that Draco returned, though he did change the sentence, "Something I could use to get _him_ fired and possibly Dumbledore if we played our cards right."

Merlin nodded, "Sure but I'm offering two of my secrets in return, one of which would be the one you are helping me keep and the other something which I am sure you will find interesting."

Draco frowned. The game continued in silence for a few minutes and people who were beginning to wake up joined them to watch the match.

Merlin could have won but decided to orchestrate a tie since they had gathered an audience. When the game was declared over and everyone stood to make their way to the Great Hall Draco said, "Okay."

Those around them looked at Draco strangely, as if trying to figure out what he meant before dropping it but Merlin knew that he had just had his question answered and would soon have to make time to take Draco into the Forbidden Forest to meet Athusia. He probably wouldn't have time to call her before hand and only hoped she would realize not to call him Merlin if he couldn't get through to her mentally fast enough. He had yet to bring another person with him to meet her yet so they hadn't established a protocol.

Still, no matter how much Merlin thought on the subject, which was a good amount as nothing interesting happened during the day and the classes were just as boring and easy as the last time he came through, he could come up with no better way to execute his plan so Merlin decided that he would just have to take the risk.

Surprisingly, or rather not surprisingly taking Draco's lack of patience into consideration, Merlin was cornered that night. Draco stopped Merlin from leaving the common room with everyone else, and with narrowed eyes said, "We're doing this tonight," and before Merlin could answer he pulled out his gifted invisibility cloak and said, "I assume that we're headed to the Forbidden Forest."

Merlin raised an eyebrow at the not so implied demand but brushed it off, as that was how he was raised, and instead nodded. He hadn't been planning on doing this today, but there was no time like the present it seemed. "Yeah, now I'll admit this isn't what I usually do but the forest is the best place to do this."

Draco didn't ask anything else and they headed out of the common room.

There were a few things that Merlin liked about Slytherins and being in Slytherin. The first was that it was very unlikely one would be ratted out by a fellow snake. Even Zabini, Crabbe, and Goyle, who they shared a room with, would not report to anyone that they were out of bed after hours. Any other house would be almost morally obligated to tell, but a snake would see if they could use that information to their advantage. If they could they would and if they couldn't then it would be considered useless and forgotten.

Another was that most snakes would keep their word if only to establish a debt between them, and if they did sell someone out it was probably in their character, which they wouldn't have been hiding. One would be less likely to be stabbed in the back by a snake because they would always be expecting it.

The last thing that Merlin liked about those in Slytherin was that they were willing to use all methods at their disposal to accomplish their goals. Ravenclaw uses knowledge. Gryffindor uses daring. Hufflepuff uses loyalty. Slytherin uses any and all means necessary. Merlin had grown to appreciate that during his days in Camelot.

When they reached the edge of the forest Merlin was pulled out of his thoughts by Draco coming to a complete stop and looking over at him as if to say, ' _now what'_.

Merlin didn't say anything and instead continued to lead him into the forest and once the trees covered them he pulled the cloak off of them and handed it back to Draco before continuing to walk. Neither said anything until they reached the clearing Merlin had been looking for.

He turned to Draco then and asked him, "Do you know what a Dragon Lord is?"

Draco stared at him for a moment with his eyes narrowed and then chose to speak, "It's a gift passed from father to son that Merlin was famous for. It's a talent that's said to have died out ages ago. It's also theorized that Parseltounge is a weaker form that Merlin gifted to Slytherin. Why?"

Merlin scratched the back of his head nervously. "Well you know the Ambrosius family is reclusive and one reason is that they rumored to have descended from Merlin and the head of the family, as the most direct descendent, inherits the title of Dragon Lord." Merlin watched as Draco's eyes narrowed as he began to realize what Merlin was saying, still Merlin continued, "And so when I call a Dragon here please don't freak out."

"Don't freak out?! Bloody hell, how has your family kept this a secret? Why?"

Merlin sighed, "Let me call Athusia and then we can discuss this." When Draco nodded but chose to say nothing else Merlin faced the clearing, looked up at the sky, and called "O, Dragarn! E male, soi ftengometta tesd'hup anakess!" _(from the internet said to call a dragon command)_

When Merlin finished he turned to face Draco and found him looking back at him in disbelief. Merlin chose not to say anything and instead waited until Draco chose to speak. It took a few minutes before Draco did speak. "So you just called a Dragon here?"

"Yes, which leads me to the second secret. The dragon I called here was a true dragon, or rather a Great Dragon." Merlin said with a smirk, "Most of what wizards today call dragons are actually hybrids, more like wyverns than dragons."

Draco stared at him with narrowed eyes before continuing as if Merlin hadn't dropped a bombshell. "Okay so I assume that the Great Dragon you called here will in some way help us with the wyvern that the oaf has managed to get his hands on."

Merlin frowned when Draco called Hagrid an oaf but chose not to say anything because though he was hiding it rather well Merlin could tell that Draco was rather close to freaking out with all the new information that he was being given. Merlin instead decided to answer Draco's unasked question. "Yes, Athuisa, the Great Dragon, can help by taking care of the wyvern until it's old enough to send off by itself to either the wild somewhere or a dragon preserve."

Draco nodded and stared quietly at the sky for a moment before turning to Merlin and asking, "Why am I involved?"

"You didn't want to be?"

Frowning Draco said, "You know what I mean."

Merlin sighed because he did know, "For a few reasons. The first is I thought that you deserved a bit of information and with a baby wyvern in the forest I might be gone a bit more often, for a while at least. The second is that I'm going to need someone to cover for me and distract the _Golden Trio_ while I bring the wyvern out here, and back up any story I tell them about how I got rid of it."

Draco nodded and their conversation ended just as they heard the beating of wings above them. They both looked up and watched as the large white dragon descended into the clearing in front of them.

Merlin looked over Athusia and saw that she seemed as well as usual. He could still find a few bones that stuck out at awkward angles and scars along the length of her body, but she was as large as Kilgharrah had once been and none of her previous injuries were as detrimental as they had once been.

The moment that she had been in his line of sight he sent her the thought, " _Athusia I'm with a friend at the moment and I'm going by Myrddin Ambrosius. He doesn't know that I'm Merlin or a Warlock."_

As Athusia landed she found his eyes and nodded responding quietly, " _Of course Emrys, though I am glad to see that you are once more making real connections."_

Merlin frowned, " _I'm not trying to but the Old Religion has asked for my interference."_

He was glad that he had chosen to keep up a semi-regular correspondence with Athusia so she knew about his aliases though he didn't like what she was implying. " _I have not been in isolation. I've made many friends over the years."_

_"_ _Since the fall of Camelot and the deaths of the Founders you have met many people but none have known you."_

" _You sound more like Kilgharrah every time we meet."_

Now that Merlin knew she would not be giving away any of his secrets, on accident anyway, he turned his attention to Draco where he was attempting to calm himself down after taking a few steps back hastily.

"Draco this is Athusia. Athusia this is Draco. Draco goes to school with me and is a fellow first year in Slytherin."


	16. Meeting Aithusa

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, first off, if you have me on fanfic.net you will note that I haven't actually written anything new. I really don't plan to give this story up but I have just received my bachelors degree in English and am now entering the teacher credential program. I am expecting that to take up a lot, if not all, of my time. I have school and money and soon a job to worry about but when my life slows down again I do plan to continue. (I kind of miss how easy high school was in comparison) 
> 
> Anyway, for those of you who only read this story here I hope you enjoy the two new chapters

"Draco this is Aithusa. Aithusa this is Draco. Draco goes to school with me and is a fellow first year in Slytherin."

Draco seemed to be frozen on the edge of the clearing and had taken a few automatic steps back as Aithusa had landed in front of them.

Merlin did his best to smother his smile at the undisguised look of both awe and terror on Draco's face as he stared at the giant white dragon in front of him.

Aithusa bent her head down to stare at Draco appraisingly. "Draco," she said carefully as she tilted her head to the side curiously, "That is a good name that you've acquired. I'm glad that little Myrddin has found someone with such a good name to play with."

Draco blinked in a mixture of shock and surprise while Merlin bit his lip to keep from laughing at the playful tone that Aithusa was trying to hide. _"It isn't nice of you to tease my friends Aithusa,"_ Merlin sent to her lightly.

She huffed, _"As I rarely get to speak with anyone other that you I treasure the moments that I can tease these tiny people."_

Merlin didn't respond because it seemed that her little huff and allowed Draco to shake off most of his shock, though he still seemed to be feeling a good amount of awe at the arrival of Aithusa.

"It is a privilege to be named after such a magnificent creature as you, and I am glad that you believe that I shall live up to such a great honor. As for Myrddin, I too am glad to have found someone like him to," he hesitated a moment but seemed to decide to use the word that she had presented him with, "play with."

Aithusa let out a deep laugh that shook the ground that they stood on. "Little one you should call me to meet your friends more often if they are anything like this one." She laughed again before straightening back up. "Now what is it you've called me here for little one as I do doubt that it was just to have me meet your friend here?"

"Right," Merlin said as he chuckled and rubbed his arm nervously, "Well, the grounds keeper here at Hogwarts, Hagrid, has managed to get his hands on a wyvern's egg that should be hatching at any time and when it does I'd like you to watch over it for a bit."

"Foolish little ones," Aithusa huffed, "Why would one of your size think that they could manage to care for even a wyvern. I wonder how it is that your species has yet to kill themselves? Thinking one is strong enough to manage even the smallest of wyverns and yet you call them Dragons," Merlin had heard something similar to this rant every few centuries and was now passed being surprised by it, "You little ones with your little bits of magic wouldn't know a _real_ dragon if it burnt you to a crisp."

Draco looked nervously to Merlin, and seeing that he didn't seem either worried or insulted decided he could risk speaking and not worry about being burnt to a crisp. "Forgive us the insult to your species, as we have had no dealings with true dragons in, what I imagine has been a very long time, we have become mistaken. Though after seeing you I can't ever imagine making such a mistake again."

"Of course not," Aithusa answered as she turned to look at Draco. "I forgive your error and agree to look after this wyvern for a short time as you have asked."

"You have our thanks," Draco responded immediately.

"I do ask, little one, that in return you will hatch for me one of the Great Dragon eggs that has been found."

Merlin nodded. After Arthur's death and before Kilgharrah's they had found two eggs of the Great Dragons hidden where only the kin of the dragons could find them. He had hatched those two already. The first was Ora Estonteco, a male golden dragon, who they had hatched right after the discovery and the second was Ilandria, a female ruby dragon, a few centuries after Kilgaharrah's passing. It had been decided by Kilgharrah and Merlin at the beginning that they would spread out the hatching of the eggs so that they could spend time to raise and take care of the younger ones so there would be no incidents as there had been with Aithusa in her youth.

This next egg that Merlin was to hatch was the only egg that Kilgharrah had and its mother was Aithusa. Merlin smiled as he answered, "Of course I shall hatch the egg once the wyvern is settled."

Merlin was very much looking forward to meeting the child of Kilgharrah.

"Hatch?" Draco asked, his confusion showing, "I mostly understand what a Dragon Lord is from the few books that we have from that time, but I don't understand why you would hatch an egg."

Merlin found that the face Draco made was very amusing but it wasn't he who answered, it was Aithusa.

"Dragon Lords are those who have power over the Great Dragons. They have this power because they are considered our kin. A Dragon Lord is a magic user who possesses the rare ability to tame Dragons. According to the Old Religion, Dragon Lords were brothers to dragons through a connection of the soul, with the abilities being hereditary. Our eggs only hatch when a Dragon Lord calls out to the embryo inside the egg. This talent was passed down from father to son," Aithusa paused for a second before continuing, "There is no real knowledge about how Dragon Lords came to be and though there used to be many there is only one now."

"Why is there only one now?" Draco asked, confused.

"There can only be one at a time in each family as the gift passes from father to son and the son only receives the gift once his father has died. There were once many families that possessed the ability but all but one died during the Great Purge."

Merlin could see that Draco would be here all night asking Aithusa questions if he allowed it and so he decided to stop him now.

"Draco, we should be heading back to the castle soon. We can visit with Aithusa again in a few days and we will still have to bring the wyvern out to her once it hatches."

Draco seemed to think about it for a moment before deciding that Merlin did have a point. "All right then Myrddin," he agreed before turning to Aithusa and giving a short bow, "It was lovely meeting a Great Dragon and I hope that we shall speak again soon."

Aithusa chuckled but seem to appreciate the respect that she was being shown. "Yes little dragon we shall speak again soon. Good-bye little ones I shall stay nearby until you call for me."

_"Thank you Aithusa. I will visit again soon."_

_"Of course you will Emrys, and I ask that you do bring your little friend as I rarely get to speak with humans and I do find him to be amusing."_

_"I don't think he'll allow himself to be left behind at this point."_

_"Yes, I would imagine not though you are very adept at sneaking around and away from your friends when you wish."_

"Good-bye for now Aithusa."

"Good-bye for now little one," there was a pause now before she continued in Merlin's head, " _I do wonder if you heard the prophesy that is approaching?"_

_"Yes, I heard it from the Crystals in the Cave. The one speaking of 'The one to vanquish the Dark Lord' correct?"_

Aithusa shook her head gently. _"That is a prophecy that was given with new magic, but there is an old one that was given long ago that most creatures of the old religion now believe will come to pass soon."_

_"What is it?"_

_"I shall tell you of it the next time we speak, for now you should head back with your friend."_

Merlin wanted to argue but by now he knew that once a dragon had made up its mind it would not be convinced otherwise and Merlin could see no reason why he could not wait a few days, so he nodded and followed Draco back to the castle.


End file.
